


It's a Peverell Thing

by WampusRoar13



Series: Peverell Lines Run Deep [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Harry is Lily's Son Too, Lily is Albus Dumbledore's Daughter, Lily is Sirius' Sister, M/M, Mpreg mentioned, Multi, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Stand alone story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2020-12-22 17:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 40,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21080540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WampusRoar13/pseuds/WampusRoar13
Summary: What if Cedric was Harry's mate? When Harry prevents the Dark Lord from returning that night in the graveyard, events are changed and the teenager's family comes to call. They don't know what they're in for, but then again, neither does Harry.Can completely be read as a stand alone story.





	1. Prologue: Marauding Peverell's

**Author's Note:**

> I had a thought, then five days and eighty pages later... this happened. Can be read completely by itself.

_ September 1974 _

“How did he manage to get you all kicked out this time?”

“Set a cretin gnome loose on the heartless btich’s house elf while he was serving tea. Only took him three days to execute; he’s getting pretty good at it.”

“What did Abby say?”

“He scolded him for causing trouble; after she cursed him the other month I was worried too… But, he laughed his ass off once the boys went upstairs.”

“She didn’t?” the Director hissed nastily.

Orion saw two secretaries, where they were entering the small room that housed the elevators, quickly turn on their heels to vacate the space with the angry vampire. He said nothing, not feeling his friend should have to be self conscious for cowardly individuals, “She did. I threatened her to within an inch of her life, but it makes me terrified to go to work every other week. Reggie’s gotten good at flying under her radar, but Sirius… You know how he is, Perce.”

Percival Graves sighed as he and Orion waited for the elevator. The wizards were heading back toward his office from their ally conference, which had dragged on too damn long. Both were ready to grab their jackets and get to dinner, needing to be anywhere but work. 

The Director did in fact know how is oldest godson was. Sirius Orion Black treated being in Gryffindor as a way of life. He admitted, “Britain may not have done the same Statute of Secrecy crap, but Europe’s magical family law is as ancient and shitty as anywhere.”

“Who are you telling?” The Black Lord demanded, “I don’t even know of anywhere else that magical marriage contracts are still a thing. Who let’s parents make teenagers sign something like that?” Orion growled, “Cygnus threatened to do it to his girls; I told him he’d never get another penny from our family and that’s only if I didn’t kill him. If Sirius or Reggie ever even… Sometimes I don’t know why Abby puts up with me and my family.”

“You’re his mate and he loves you. You can’t help that your father was a bastard,” Percy reminded him, “I knew the rogue wasn’t going to risk being at Grimmauld Place before he went back anyway. He’d die if Aberforth didn’t put him on that train.”

Of course, the rogue wasn’t his only nephew at Hogwarts anymore, “How’s Reg liking school?”

“He’s fine, he’s got Cissy and her friend, Severus. Boy’s not crazy about being apart from Sirius so much, but it’s part of being in different houses; he’ll be fine,” Orion was glad for his youngest niece. He was even more ecstatic that, with both boys in school, he didn’t have to spend every other week at Grimmauld place with Walburga. At least until summer rolled back around.

“ I thought Sirius’ first letter was going to burst into flames like a howler, he was so excited,” Orion chuckled, “He keeps talking about getting his lion.”

“Jamie too,” Percival huffed, “We’re never going to keep them from it until they’re seventeen.”

“I want to agree with you, but Abby’s determined. I’m not getting involved, he and Sirius can duke it out.”

The vampire laughed, “I’ll put money on the boys; we’re getting too old to win against the new generation.”

The Black Lord groaned, “Don’t remind me. I’m already dreading turning fifty this year.”

“You are the youngest person in the family!” Percy reminded him, “The kids excluded, obviously.”

“I know, but it still bugs me. Besides, you’ve been thirty-five for a damn eon by now.”

Rolling his eyes the Director acknowledged, “That part’s true.”

There was silence for several long moments and Orion studied his best friend. He could tell that the vampire was lost in thought, as the Graves Lord stood perfectly still, not bothering to keep up the constant movement that he was so used to exhibiting at work, “Why don’t you just go see him? Fire call and talk? Send a letter, anything?”

The Director huffed, eyes moving down to stare at his feet, “I don’t know anymore. What would I even say?”

“I love you, I miss you, I’m not even mad anymore,” A femine voice joined them in the little room housing the elevators, “By the way, take your pants off because I’m coming over.”

Orion laughed so hard he had to lean on the wall beside the elevator shaft. He couldn’t deny that Porpentina Scamander was one of his favorite people. The woman took absolutely no shit from her declared work husband and he loved the way that she challenged his and his mate’s best friend. Once he could breathe, even as Percy shook his head at her, the siren exclaimed, “That works!”

“That does not work,” Percy hissed at his work wife, “Besides, it’s been decades. He may not even want to speak to me anymore.”

Now it was Tina who rolled her eyes, “Percy, the man could break out any time he wanted; he’s proven that many times. It’s his own damn castle! The only reason he’s stayed in time out is because of you. You were genuinely mad at him and he can’t stand that.”

He huffed, “I’ll think about it, just... New topic, please.”

The elevator sounded it’s arrival and as they all stepped in Tina acquiescing to his request, “So, how’s it feel to be an old man?”

“You are older than me!” Orion said with mock offense.

“Yeah, but now you’re officially going to be one of us!” Tina told him, “Bet Sirius has had a field day with that.”

He groaned, “Damn straight he has. I don’t want to be fifty!”

“Then don’t,” Percy said dryly, as the doors started sliding shut, “You are a siren, it’s your choice.”

Tina puffed at him exasperated, “Says the man who loved being fifty and who has stayed deaged for someone he’s not even speaki…”

A hand dashed in to stop the doors right before the doors closed. When it popped back open and Albus Dumbledore realized who was in the elevator, they could all see that he wished he hadn’t caught it. After a moment of shock, he stepped into the golden machine with them, pressing the button for the floor below Percy’s office. He kept his back to the three and his lips tight, obviously refusing to say a word.

Percy and Orion both rolled their eyes meeting glances, before the Graves Lord took an even breath, refusing to give an audible show of his frustration, as he cast his eyes upwards staring at the ceiling. He prayed to Mary and Morgana that the ride would be blessedly short. 

Irritated with his brother in law, Orion glanced over to Tina and realized that she was glaring absolute daggers into Albus’ head for ignoring her best friend and work husband. He knew that the woman was protective of Percival; had been since he returned from spousal abduction to the states with Flea. Her resentment was only intensified by the way Albus had ignored his family since their infant daughter was kidnapped by muggle extremists. Although Aberforth and Albus had started talking again, tentatively, when Sirius started Hogwarts, Orion wasn’t thrilled with him either and did not like being ignored when the brothers were supposed to be in contact.

As the door slid shut, he had a thought, “Sirius was telling me that Jimmy placed team Captain over the summer, how did it go?”

Over the years, Percival Graves had been hatefully told that vampires couldn’t feel and were heartless a million times. When he glanced toward Orion’s reflection and spotted Albus Dumbledore’s horrified expression at the nickname in the reflecting elevator metal, it became his personal mantra for several seconds, to keep himself for busting out laughing. They were all shielding at work, but he would have given anything to hear what the fae and genius was thinking in that moment.

Luckily Tina didn’t even miss a beat, popping her ‘boss’ in the shoulder, “Oh, you didn’t tell me that! Tell Jim I said congratulations!”

“I will,” He said smoothly, glancing at her with a small grin for covering for him, “It went very well. He managed to get invited back to lead the team again next year. Flea and I were surprised when Sirius didn’t join.”

“Heartless bitch wouldn’t sign; they required dual consent,” Orion growled, “He showed out so badly, that’s when she cursed him.”

“Jimmy mentioned she had something to do with it,” Percy acknowledged, “When he turned up at the house. He seemed excited to play the team’s mascot though.”

“Getting my oldest to show out is never a challenge,” Orion admitted, “I’m sure he made a right spectacle.”

“Did he manage to get you three back to Hogsmeade before school started?” Tina asked the Black Lord.

“That he did,” Orion smiled, “Used a cretin gnome this time.”

“Points for originality,” Tina told them as the doors slid open. 

Albus Dumbledore stepped out quickly, face still looking like he had tasted a lemon, and disappeared around the nearest corner. The three of them shared a look as the door started closing once more. As soon as it was shut, they all burst out laughing. Orion leaned back on the furthest wall of the elevator to hold himself up. While Tina’s head fell forward onto Percy’s shoulder, her whole body shaking.

The vampire shook his head at the two, wiping a tear from his eye, “We’re all going straight to hell.”

“Jewish,” Tina reminded him playfull for the billionth time in their fifty years together at Macusa, “Go to confession, you’ll be fine.”

Percy snorted, “Forgive me father, for I have sinned… My best friend’s brother in law was being a prick, so we screwed with him.”

Orion laughed, “Can’t you just say mate? It’s less of a mouthful.”

“Own it,” Tina encouraged, “You’ll feel better.”

“He’s had that shit shut down for so long,” Percy sighed, “I don’t think it’s applicable if you’ve never said two words to one another.”

“Not even when Blondie went to prison?” Tina asked him, “Nothing? Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Albus is the master of avoidance,” Orion told her, as they stepped out of the elevator, heading for Percy’s office, “There’s a reason he took so long to confront Gellert. A blood pact promising to always love each other didn’t keep him from jack shit, and even then, Percy had already done the hard part to make The Liberator want to break that wand in half when he took Flea away.”

“Fair,” Tina moved on quickly, remembering that Percy had already tolerated talk of his other mate as much as he would today. She didn’t blame him honestly; neither of Percy’s mates were prizes in her opinion, “Where are you two heading?”

“Dinner, care to join us?”

“Can’t, Mora had her foal. I promised to help after work,” Tina told them, stepping into her office to grab her coat, before catching up to them in Percy’s. 

“The auburn hippogriff, right?” Percy clarified.

“Yep!”

“Give my congratulations to all,” The Director encouraged as she quickly took off for home. He and Orion headed back toward the elevators once more, moving for the international floo network to wait on Abby to join them in the states for a night in New York.

When the bar owner arrived he saw immediately that his younger mate and best friend were entirely too happy, “What is it?”

“Can’t we just have a good day?” Orion asked, stealing a kiss as they finally moved out of Macusa.

“At an international conference full of all day meetings?” Aberforth reminded sarcastically, “No, no you cannot.”

“He’s got you there,” Percy pointed out. 

Orion still couldn’t force the grin from his face as they moved toward their favorite italian restaurant in the city, “Fine, we may have done a bad thing to your brother.”

“He had it coming,” The salt and pepper haired fae said confidently, “But what did you do?”

By the time they finished their story, Aberforth was being held up by his mate, after Percival shared the image of his big brother’s face using legilimency. He couldn’t breathe because, unlike Percy, he knew exactly what his genius of a brother had been thinking. Fleamont was Percy and Grindelwald’s only child; that made James his heir. The thought of them calling the legendary and notorious Liberator’s heir Jimmy would have just bugged the absolute hell out of the barely red haired wizard and that made his gut want to explode from the induced hysteria.

The trio enjoyed dinner, sharing the rest of their day’s experiences, both at the conference and the bar. The two government officials talked about the endless meetings they’d endured and Abby shared the letters that Sirius and Reggie had sent home that day. Then they left for their upscale apartment building, where Orion kept a place in the city for nights like tonight, when they were in the states; the couple’s place just a floor below their best friend’s. 

“Can’t you just move back?” Abby demanded, “Gods, it’s been decades.”

Not wanting his mate caught off guard or surprised if Percy was short, Orion sent a warning of their earlier conversation across their mating bond. He wasn’t surprised when that did nothing to dissuade his goat of a fae mate. Kendra Dumbledore might have called him the auguery of their family, but that was too good for what a determined, stubborn, irritating ass his lover could be.

“What for?” Percy asked, “Flea and Euphemia have the kids in hand with you two and, as today demonstrated, your brother wants nothing to do with me.”

“Look, Perce, I’m never going to be a Grindelwald fanboy, everyone knows this,” the fae started, “But he’s your husband. You two are going to have to talk eventually.”

“And say what?” The vampire demanded, “I’ve never agreed with his politics and I’m not going to!”

“You think I’m asking you to? Me?” Abby set him a look, raising his eyebrows, “But, I don’t think he even agrees with what he did anymore. He’s stayed there because he doesn’t feel like you want him now and everyone can see how miserable you are without him. Just admit that you’re still crazy about the son of a bitch and get him moved to house arrest here.”

“I thought the point of this was to get me back in Europe,” The Director pointed out with a sad smile, trying to distract the dark fae with his sarcasm.

Aberforth snorted, “I would love nothing more than for you to come back. Commute to work if you don’t want to let Tina take over. Flea would be ecstatic! James would explode into confetti. Gods know that boy worships the ground you walk on. More than anything though, I just want you to not be miserable anymore…” 

The empath fiddled with the Dumbledore heir ring on his middle finger, “Percy, I know why you left. I agree with you, he had to stop; more than anyone, I wanted him stopped. But, he  _ did  _ stop. He gave the wand up to Albus,” The wizard sighed, “Listen, I can’t imagine how you felt in that elevator today. And, I’m certainly not asking you to share with the class, I’m just saying think about it. You’re doing to him what Albus did to you today and that’s not right either… From what I gather even those two idiots exchange letters.”

“They do,” Percy confirmed quietly, “My magic’s linked to anything that goes in or out of Nurmengard.”

The siren of the trio was angry on his friend’s behalf. Everyone wanted to never let Percy forget who he married, well before Grindelwald ever rose to power, and held the vampire’s career hostage just like the Dark Lord had his spouse. Yet when the blasted public wanted the man contained they were more than happy to put that on the Director of Security for Macusa, who didn’t even live or work on the same continent. Orion glared at his husband, not liking the hurt that flashed across their best friend’s face.

Aberforth still pushed forward, “Do that then, if you’re not ready to see him… Just… Please don’t be miserable, especially when I know being with him is what you want. You left, you made your point, he stopped. There’s nothing wrong in getting back with him now.”

By that point they had arrived in the building and were outside the Black family’s apartment. The vampire Director stared up at the ceiling, “Maybe you’ve got a point. I still don’t know what to say to him, though.”

Orion snorted where he was unlocking the door, “There’s always Tina’s suggestion.”

“Ugh,” Percy rolled his eyes, “That woman’s a menace. Good night, assholes.”

He trudged up the stairs, his last words quiet, little more than a whisper, fond but distracted, as the Graves Lord was lost in his own head.

The two disappeared into their apartment after issuing farewells and Abby looked at his mate, “What did Tina suggest?” The siren just shared it through their mating bond, but the younger Dumbledore brother could feel his mate’s irritation with him. He huffed, “Someone had to say it.”

“Maybe the day your brother pulled his little schtick wasn’t the right time. You didn’t see Percy’s face when he just put his back to him like that,” Orion pointed out.

“It’s been ridiculous since James was born,” he hissed at his husband, “Percy has wanted the blonde terror back for over a decade. If I’m the last one in this family willing to kick you idiots in the arse when you need it, so be it! But I will not apologize for that!” He spun and took off for the bedroom. 

Still irritated Orion called out, “Yeah, well maybe you should start with your brother, before you come for the rest of us!!!”

The door slammed and he was never more tempted to go sleep in Graves’ spare bedroom. Instead, because he did not want to have to explain the contents of their argument, he pulled off his tie and shirt. That left him in only his white sleeveless undershirt as Orion got a drink before collapsing into his recliner. He had one arm thrown across his eyes, the other holding his drink, feet propped up, when he felt the warding magic on the apartment alert him to a fire call.

The siren was just praying that it wasn’t the Ministry as he let the call come through, in no mood to have to floo across the damn Atlantic this late. He didn’t even bother to move his arm, if anyone didn’t like that he was relaxing at home, they could simply kiss his…

“Well, don’t you look like a prize.”

He recognized the voice and quickly sat up to greet his tattoo artist, Rhys Inkler. Orion couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face, “What are you doing calling me so late, old man? How’s the baby?”

“I’m not the one turning fifty, you old bugger! And she’s still not sleeping through the night; not sure I’m gonna make it, Ori,” Rhys disclosed, unabashedly observing the Black family and Slytherin crests that adorned each of the siren’s upper arms, making sure they were still in perfect condition. They were.

“I remember those days,” He shook his head.

“Well, speaking of kids, that’s kind of why I’m calling you,” Rhys told him. When all he got in response was a confused expression the man moved to continue quickly, “Your son just walked into Tattoo Artist here in Diagon Alley; trying to bribe me for a job. He’s got three other boys with him.”

“Ahh shit!” Orion complained throwing his arm back over his face, “Damn it all and I can’t even be surprised; his uncle is out of the country.”

The artist laughed, “Well, I told them I was going to make sure the gold they paid me was authentic. I didn’t want to tip them off that I knew you; I figured they’d just leave and get some hack job to do it.”

“You are not wrong,” Orion said, listening to the shower running in the bedroom for a few seconds, “Go ahead a do it, Rhys.”

“What!? Are you sure?” 

“You don’t know them, but they will get it done one way or another. By a hack job or themselves,” Orion nodded, sure of his decision, “Go ahead. They’re all mine, you have my permission.”

“Alright man, as long as you consent,” He nodded, “They want a…”

“A lion, upper arm, where my crests are. Roaring, golden fur and red maned.”

He stared at the man for a moment, “Okay… Maybe they wanted a lion for a while, but that’s too damn specific. Have you seen the drawing they brought me?”

“No, the picture is a copy of their uncle’s. They’re getting one just like his.”

The man snorted, “Fine, then. You coming to pick them up?”

“Nah, if they can get out then they can get back in. They always manage,” Orion told him, “Do me a favor and let them think they got away with it, huh? No reason to get in trouble with the mate.”

“Fair enough! Wouldn’t want Aberforth after my ass either,” Rhys admitted then cut the firecall off. 

Orion knew that he had until Albus got back to Hogwarts. Minerva McGonagall was undoubtedly waiting on the boys and once the irritating redhead got back, she’d tell him what they got up to. The older fae would never risk not telling his brother what the boys did; then Abby would have a right fit. At least, if the boys kept their mouths shut about the where, it wouldn’t be his ass getting chewed out.

Sitting and having a couple more drinks, the Black Lord thought about going upstairs and seeing Percy. He didn’t know if that would make things better or worse though. After debating for a few minutes, as the shower was still running, Orion decided to risk it.

Getting a refill he moved upstairs, barefoot, to his best friend’s apartment. The warding magic automatically unlocked the door recognizing him and Orion slipped inside, worried Percy might have gone to bed after the taxing day. Instead, he found the Graves Lord sitting at the desk in his living room, crumpled balls of paper thrown all over the floor having been cast away, while Percy scribbled on his eagle stationary. After a few moments the vampire also tossed aside the one he was working on. 

The younger lord did not have to ask what he was writing, “Struggling?”

“Why the fuck is this so hard, Ori?” Percival demanded, sitting back harshly, index finger going over his lip as it always did when he was frustrated, “I mean, Abby’s not wrong. I am married to the son of a bitch! This shouldn’t be a Herculean task!” 

He sat on the sofa, legs extended before him, facing the Director, “What do you want to say to him?”

“What?”

Genuine confusion, it was worse than Orion feared, “You know, how you have a conversation with anyone. You say what you want to say. What do you want to say to him?”

Percy stared at him for several minutes, just thinking about the question. He hadn’t talked to Gellert in so long and, before he’d brought Flea with him to the states, they’d had it out. There really was nothing left to say about what had happened then. Gellert had already begged him for forgiveness, given up all his political intentions, and even asked him not to leave. Percy had anyway, needing to be sure that the seer was really going to stop. 

There was just the here and now, but he wasn’t sure what that looked like for them anymore. He was in the states, Flea was grown and finally had a son. James was between them and went to Nurmengard with his parents often but there was only so much they would be able to talk about in terms of his quidditch success.

Seeing the haplessness on his friend’s face, Orion sighed, “Maybe ask if he wants you to open the bond back up?”

That seemed to make the vampire startle. After he realized what his siren friend meant, the Director shook his head, “I never muted our bond.”

“You didn’t?”

“Of course not, I’m not your brother in law,” Percy told him tersely, “I left to prove a point, but I wasn’t going to let some mob show up on his doorstep and kill him either. If he ever needed me, I’d be there.”

“Of course you aren’t! I’m sorry, Perce, I didn’t mean…”

“No, no, it’s not you,” He moved to apologize, head cradled in his hands, “I’m sorry, this is harder than I thought it would be and I hate it.”

Orion waved him off, “Look, I know that he writes to Albus and he’s expressed how much he wants you back. He doesn’t seem to know that you’d be there if he needed you; maybe you should just tell him that. It’s a start.”

Seeing the sour look that crossed Percy’s features, he raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Nothing.”

The Black Lord thought back over what he just said and then chuckled, “Percy, they aren’t together. It’s just letters.”

The vampire was grateful that he couldn’t blush because he probably would have looked like the Ilvermorny banners at that moment, “Are you sure?”

“Positive!” Orion assured him, “Gellert isn’t going to be with anyone without your approval, especially Albus. He knows the two of you still haven’t spoken and you’re his husband. I swear on that, Perce. Albus is just one of the only people who write to him, along with Flea and Jamie, and Lady Bagshot.”

“Okay,” the Graves accepted, staring at the blank stationary in front of him.

Orion spent the next several hours as an impartial sounding board as the other wizard painfully forged through a letter to his mate and husband. Thinking about the man downstairs, although they couldn’t get legally married because of Walburga, and the threat to Orion’s own magic if he broke the marriage contract, he felt himself melt toward his husband. Fiddling with the ring on his finger, symbolic though it may be, he still thought Abby should have given the vampire a day after what happened in the elevator. Then again, there was also the reality that they were going back to Europe at first light for work. 

Aberforth Dumbledore also was not a ‘beat around the bush’ sort of individual; there was a reason he called him a goat… Maybe that was what he should get the fae for christmas, a little billy goat. If the little terror butted his mate in the arse a few times, maybe he’d slow down in the way he did it to other people. Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

When the blasted letter was finally as complete as Percival was going to get it, Orion felt the wards flare down stairs, as the man was sending it off, “Ahh Hel and Hekate.”

“What?” Percy asked, letting his owl, Carni, a Great Horned Owl, fly out the window.

Orion rolled his eyes, “Okay, between us, the boys snuck out to get a tattoo. I’m guessing Albus went back tonight and had to come right back when he found out.”

“Does Abby know that you know?”

“Hel is great and I’m not an idiot; absolutely not.”

“Touche,” Percy said as his friend headed for the door, “Good luck with that.”

“Let’s meet at seven for breakfast before we head back,” Orion said, already halfway out the door. He closed the door and turned, finding Aberforth at the top of the landing, undoubtedly coming to get him, as he was sure the older fae asked to speak to both of them, “What now?”

He was confused when Aberforth flinched, then he realized that the other wizard thought he was still pissed from their fight. Not wanting to keep fighting he quickly corrected him, “I felt Albus come in, I meant him.”

“Oh,” There was relief in the other’s voice. Obviously Abby didn’t want to fight anymore either, “I don’t know yet… I should probably talk to Percy.”

“He’s going to bed,” Orion told him. He saw hurt flash across the other’s face and, again, it occurred that he’d misstepped. Abby thought Percival had asked not to see him. Apparently he was off his game tonight and he needed to fix that before he got his own ass sold out about the tattoo, “Not that! He’s meeting us for breakfast. We just sent off his letter to Grindelwald.”

All he got was a pair of wide eyes, “Oh.”

He chuckled, “Come on, let’s go see what Sirius has done this time.”

Abby smiled at him, “One of these days it’s going to be Reggie and he’s never going to let you live it down.”

“I hope you’re right,” Orion told him, “But, so far, a warm day in Helheim still seems more likely.”

“Percy would say…”

“Hell is scorching, yes, I’m well aware,” Orion beat him to the punchline.

“He’s only been in school for three weeks,” Aberforth complained, grabbing his mate’s hand now that he realized the man wasn’t still angry at him, “What could he possibly be doing?”

“It’s three more weeks than we got last year,” Orion reminded him. Albus had been on their doorstep just after the feast ended the boys’ third year; some welcoming prank that wound up with all the teachers, and the headmaster, doing an elaborate dance and resulted in the first day of classes being cancelled. Although Orion had sent the self proclaimed marauders one incensed howlder, Aberforth hadn’t been able to breathe at the thought of his son doing that to his uncle and the man’s staff.

They entered the apartment and Orion quickly spotted the headmaster and his phoenix companion. He could only assume that was a faster means of travel than floo after a long day. 

Albus was sitting on the sofa awaiting them. The fae looked up and blushed but still greeted the siren, “Orion.”

“Oh, so you do remember my name,” His brother in law didn’t miss a beat, “I was beginning to wonder.”

Aberforth snickered, always delighted when anyone gave his brother a hard time. Especially when the genius had it coming. “I love you so much,” He reminded his husband.

“I’m so sorry,” Albus said, embarrassment obvious, “I… panicked. I just… I didn’t know what to say.”

“Lesson of the night seems to be that anything is better than silence,” Orion reclaimed his chair, pulling Abby down into his lap, “So, what did he do? Paint the Great Hall in hippogriff feathers? Declare his love for the werewolf in grandeur during Transfiguration? Put cretin gnomes in old Sluggy’s office?”

Aberforth tried to hide his huffing laughter by hiding his face in Orion’s neck. Sirius did have an unbelievable amount of sexual tension with his sandy blonde friend and his mate had long predicted that the two would end up together. While the fae wasn’t so sure, as he could feel both’s strictly platonic emotions for one another, he was sure that they would be lifelong friends. He wouldn’t be surprised if their mates wound up sharing many traits with the marauder they weren’t mated to.

Albus smiled. For all everyone complained about his twinkling eyes, his brother lit up like nothing he’d ever seen whenever the younger siren was around and no one complained when the dark Dumbledore twinkled. Still, he was happy for his brother. He knew the fae had stopped aging, worried about Orion’s youth when they first met, but he was hoping with the man turning fifty that they’d feel more on par with one another finally, “Nothing quite so impactful this time; although I’ve heard cretin gnomes are all the rage recently. They were caught sneaking out.”

“Oh, okay…” Aberforth was genuinely surprised. It wasn’t that sneaking out wasn’t bad, it was. The boys just got caught doing it so often, that it was usually just a firecall, not a home visit from his brother.

“I know, not when I normally turn up,” Albus acknowledged, knowing he was never going to hear the end of this, “It’s what they were doing while they were gone that I thought you’d want to know about.”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense,” Abby instructed.

“They went and got a tattoo.”

Aberforth groaned, “Oh Hel, I can only imagine what they go too! Who the fuck gives fourteen year olds a tattoo? Would Rhys?”

“Tattoo Artist doesn’t do minors without parental consent,” Orion told him without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course they fucking don’t! What hack job would? What is wrong with people? Bloody absolute hell, those stubborn idiots! I am going to kick their…”

Both men just let him storm off into the office, undoubtedly going for a howler, to let his son have a piece of Abby’s mind. Orion waited until he could hear the man screaming into one of the red envelopes before turning back to his brother in law, “Did they get it?”

“A lion? Indeed. As a matter of fact, they mentioned where they got it too.”

“Bloody hell,” Orion cursed, now he was in trouble too.

Albus chuckled, “That was a very… persuasive statement, but Rhys would never have done that unless you knew.”

“Yeah, I knew,” Orion admitted, “We’d just had a row over the lift incident when he popped in and they were going to do it anyway so…”

The fae flinched at the mention of their earlier altercation, even as the siren waved off his ending. Knowing he hadn’t handled that well, the oldest Dumbledore felt absolutely terrible. He had never known what to say to Percival Graves; he’d muted both of his mating bonds so very long ago. He didn’t know what to do or how to talk to the man; it’s not like you can just apologize for decades of elected isolation and expect the hurt it caused to go away. 

Gellert said that the vampire still hadn’t reached out to him either. And Albus in no way wanted to get between the two husbands… Alright, that was a bad way to even think about that… But still, he wasn’t trying to make things more complicated between the pair. So, he wrote to his friend and heard about his heartache, but continued to avoid his other mate, even as he kept in contact with Flea and aided in raising the family’s youngest like James was another nephew.

Aberforth stomped back into the room, red envelope securely in one hand, an owl in the other, “Anything else I need to add before I send this?”

“No, that’s it.”

Orion was surprised that his brother in law seemed to have zero interest in selling him out to his mate. He accepted the scarlet fae’s attempt at an apology, knowing the smoke would have to long clear between his friend and Grindelwald, before any of them would be crazy enough to try and put Percy and Albus in the same space again. So, once the howler was sent off to arrive with Hogwarts’ morning post, the headmaster left quickly to go back and get some sleep.

The next morning Sirius and his friends endured the howler with pride, everyone in the Great Hall quickly becoming aware of exactly what they’d done and what their new brands were. Albus spotted his youngest nephew, along with Cissy, about to fall out of their seats, hysterical, while Severus didn’t bother suppressing a chroused eye roll with Lily Evans. 

Apparently Abby had come to be pissed at him once he’d left, because Albus got a howler as well. He and Minerva quickly dismissed everyone to their morning classes as the cat calls started toward the troublemakers, before Sirius could actually start a strip tease at breakfast. They both knew he would.

There was some surprise when, the next day, two more howlers arrived in the same vein as the first. Then it happened again the next day, and the next, and the next. By the second week of howlers coming every day, even Minnie was giving Albus sideways looks, that plainly cited where she thought Sirius got his dramatic tendencies. The older fae agreed with her silently; that Abby ever worried Sirius wouldn’t be his son was a damn joke! 

Still, everyone got used to the new normal of Sirius Black’s dad bitching about him getting a tattoo at fourteen. It actually became a standard warning for if students forgot something, their last chance to run back to the dorms before they’d be late. Almost a month after the howlers started, Albus shared a relieved look with his nephew when the first morning arrived with only a regular letter at breakfast.

The other boys looked almost disappointed, having enjoyed the creative lengths that Sirius’ dad went to as he came up with new ways to yell at his son for the same thing everyday, but James still leaned in to read over his friends’ shoulder. The quartet of marauders were sitting at the Gryffindor table’s end, right below the instructors. From the black wax of the seal, rather than red, Albus was guessing Orion finally had enough of his husband’s antics.

Still, despite many’s apparent disappointment, and all the money that was exchanging hands, soon it was time for all the kids to get moving. As the boys took off, he believed for Horace’s first class of the day with Slytherin, the headmaster heard them talking.

Sirius was grinning bright like the sun, “Gotta love it when the old man puts his foot down in the right direction!”

James smiled at him as he moved around the table, bag slung over his shoulder, “And that would be any direction other than yours?”

“You’re damn straight!” Sirius said as they high fived, “Whoop!” 

The sandy blonde next to the Black heir crossed his arms and mocked him, “I thought your father was person non grata and you didn’t like him?”

“Only every other week,” Sirius corrected the sarcastic werewolf, “Once you enter the shedevil’s domain, he becomes an enemy of the state and should be treated as such!”

“As someone with an enemy of the state as a relative,” James put in, “That is offensive; your mother is worse.”

“Who are you telling?” Sirius asked, before snatching another donut and running off with James’ glasses, where the Potter heir had been finishing homework at breakfast.

“Asshole, come back here!” James took off after his best friend.

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes at their antics, but ran after them for the door, “You’re both idiots!”

“Guys wait up,” Albus chuckled as Peter Pettigrew sprinted after his taller friends. 

He shared a grin with Minerva at the boys’ commentary before she took off for classes and he waited for the hall to clear out. He spotted Lily Evans meet up with Severus Snape and Narcissa Black at the door to leave for class; little Reggie looked to trail after them until they reached the stairs. He hoped that his nephew was alright, he hadn’t wanted to check in a third time and crowd the eleven year old; siblings being in different houses always struggled, especially during their first year.

Still, he hadn’t really been surprised by the choice. Sirius took after Orion in appearance and charm, but modeled himself after Aberforth’s brashness. Reggie was the opposite, although maybe not with appearance. His little nephew shared the Dumbledore brothers’ joint hallow in his longing to shield others, while his model for dealing with their crazy family was his father through and through, subtlety and cunning to the end.

Once everyone had cleared out of the hall, he moved back to his office to write several correspondences, but as the fae entered, Fawkes was just coming in with a letter from Nurmengard. Albus struggled to bat down the surge of excitement that came with the raven seal, reminding himself that they were nothing more than best friends, against every insistence of the long muted bonds that he hadn’t acknowledged in all but seventy five years. And given who Gellert was married to…

God, what in the hell was wrong with him? Because when he’d first gotten a letter from G after the lift, he’d been sure what it was about, and it wasn’t follow up on their discussion of how to remove that damned curse from his Defense position. Albus had been sure the Dark Lord was going to throttle him through the missive; actually if Gellert wasn’t in prison he’d assumed it would have been a howler. His first thought, almost a month ago, had been that the blonde siren was going to be having Flea bring him some of those after that mess.

Then it hit him that he hadn’t even considered how Fleamont Potter would react to their encounter; let the howlers floweth forth. Despite the fact that he had raised Flea like his own once Gellert and his husband sent him to Hogwarts, the next generation had never ceased being protective of his carrier. Between knowing about the vampire Director’s struggle to the position during his bachelor years, the discrimination he still faced, and that brief stint as a prisoner of his husband, Albus couldn’t blame Flea. 

Not to mention the headmaster acknowledged how very badly he’d messed up that scenario. He’d even ignored Orion! Bloody hell, what was wrong with him?

Why couldn’t he just speak and let the other man set the damn pace? Every single time he was in the same room as Percival Graves he swore to breaking the wheel; that he was going to say something to him. It always seemed like his next thought was as the vampire was walking away. 

Gellert’s husband was the strongest magical presence he’d ever encountered, other than, maybe, the Liberator himself. The wizard ran the States like he was the one true king reborn, making every President’s term nominal at best, all because the people begged him not to leave. To top it all off Graves was still forty something and looked gorgeous in his suits, with his hair always slicked back perfect and…

And, as Albus pinched the bridge of his nose, he reminded himself that it didn’t matter, because he wanted nothing to do with his mates romantically. He’d fucked up his family’s lives enough, managed to let his and Gellert’s tale get so twisted already, and there was no way that he was dragging Director Graves into his messes. The man already had a hard enough time with his career and the history of one mate. That’s why he was never going to deage, he’d decided; one lifetime was more than enough.

Opening that first letter, he was confused, then just surprised, when he discovered that the vampire hadn’t seemed to mention their encounter to Gellert at all. He had been telling the blonde idiot for years to just write to the man; his siren best friend confessed years ago that Graves never muted their bond. Gellert thinking that the Director didn’t want him anymore had been ridiculous since James was born, quite frankly. If the vampire wanted to move on from his mates, it was not like he didn’t have options and yet he never dated anyone else.

Reading through the letter, he’d smiled at the overall exuberance that Gellert exuded at his husband re-establishing contact with him. Although that same smile turned slightly devious when he recognized the panic in the siren when his friend pondered what to write back. He hadn’t dared to give feedback on that, but it warmed part of Albus to know that someone could still fluster Gellert Grindelwald. 

But, if the vampire was going to write Gellert anyway, why hadn’t Graves told him what happened? Albus knew that both his and the Director’s magics were linked to Nurmengard’s security, so the man clearly was aware of their communication. He probably didn’t think that Albus cared enough to even bring it up, so he didn’t either. 

The vampire wouldn’t have cause to think anything else, that was for certain. He’d been muted towards Gellert since their last conversation after the fight with Abby and Arianna’s death. He hadn’t even reopened their bond during the twenty minute conversation they’d had when the siren ceased control of the Elder wand. And Albus had muted his connection to Percy when he finally heard that the vampire met Gellert first, calling it fate, not even a few years after Godric’s Hollow.

Honestly, though, why Graves hadn’t told Gellert about the lift was a mystery and Albus hadn’t dared to bring it up. Instead they continued talking about how to remove that damn curse and discussed how James’ fourth year was going. His friend had been saying for the last two weeks that Albie should tell his brother off for his temper tantrum. G would be ecstatic to know that Orion had done it for him.

As he was scanning the letter, the Griffin statue alerted him to an incoming student. With the briefest of glances, Albus spotted a flash of blood red hair and chuckled, “It’s only three weeks in and you’re bored already?”

Lily Evans was too advanced for her own good and tended to bounce between himself, Minnie, and Horace for entertainment. Actually, he was genuinely surprised the girl was here since she was supposed to be in potions at the moment. It wasn’t one of her subjects that typically couldn’t hold the girl’s interest.

It wasn’t until a sob reached his ears that Albus abandoned the letter and, startled, gave the fourteen year old his full attention. Fawkes was already on her shoulder, trying to help, as tears poured from the little crimson haired girl’s eyes. Her shoulders were shaking and there was a piece of parchment clutched in her hands.

Standing he rushed over to her, leaning down to wipe the tears away, “Lily, what in the world happened, sweetheart?”

Her hand shook as she extended the parchment to him.

Taking it, Albus’ breath caught.

_ Heritage Potion - September 21, 1974 _

_ Brewer: Lily Jasmine Evans Dumbledore Black _

_ Status: Witch, Pureblood _

_ Father(s): Albus Dumbledore _

_ Carrier: Orion Dumbledore _


	2. Chapter 2

_June 1995_

The breeze picked up as Harry wandered through the maze waiting for someone, anyone, else to grab that stupid ass cup. He wanted no part in this bullshit! He still had one grandfather ignoring him… Which was extra ironic given that it was the stupid redhead who put their family on the map of this tournament to begin with, although the blonde helped… All while he was having to keep the other three in varied levels of darkness about his activities. There were more important things to worry about than this stupid tournament and he wanted it over with posthaste!

He, Draco, and Neville had spent all year looking for that stupid ass diadem, only for Lady Helena to tell Neville that it was in the Room of Requirement. All the while the twins and girls were trying to keep him alive during this horrible competition. All the Potter heir wanted at the moment was for the dumb Goblet to be claimed so that he could get his lions ready to infiltrate Gringotts over the summer. That cup of Hufflepuff’s had to be destroyed and then it was just Nagini and the locket… And him, but that would be handled soon enough.

While it had taken them quite some time to figure out how to infiltrate the cave and discover the locket switch safely, Harry still dreaded having to tell his family about Regulus Black’s noble sacrifice. Despite their searches of the Black family properties, he and the other two Peverell family heirs had yet to locate the House Elf who helped the younger Black son remove the horcrux from its protected cavern. Still, they had time on that one, and Harry would give anything for one of the other champions to get the damn TriWizard Cup, so that he could focus on the one that really mattered.

“Crucio!”

Hearing the unforgivable coming from Viktor, Bill and Fleur’s mate, the Boy Who Lived took off toward the accented tongue. The older teen was competitive, but, given how hard Harry had to work to help the Quidditch player move on from who the Potter heir’s great grandfather was, he knew with certainty that such a spell would never leave the Durmstrang student’s mouth by choice. Rounding the corner, he found Viktor standing over Cedric, recasting the curse, as the Hufflepuff withered in despair.

Seeing his future mate in such agony, Harry didn’t hesitate before crying out, “Stupefy!”

Vik hit the ground hard but the green eyed Potter only ran for his future mate. There had been plenty of times over the last four years, since he’d gotten his first vision while reading his parents’ letters on the train, that he’d hated being a seer. But, he had to admit, knowing who his mate was going to be before everyone else was pretty cool. Still, he hadn’t felt the need to tell Cedric when he’d gotten a vision of the other boy and their future on the way to the Quidditch World Cup when they shook hands. He didn’t like dragging his four best friends into his drama, although they insisted there was no where else they’d rather be, so it was out of the question for him to drag poor Diggory into his sheer determination to avoid his family drama while they were still hunting for horcruxes.

Regardless of his reluctance, Harry knew who they were to one another, and refused to be anything less than caring. Kneeling down beside the other boy, Harry helped the paler teen haul himself into a sitting position, “You’ll be fine, take a deep breath.”

“I’m okay… I’m alright,” Cedric said once he was able to gulp down several breaths. After he stopped feeling like he was suffocating, he gazed up at the dark skinned boy, who was much smaller than him, but towering above his head at the moment, “You saved me.”

Harry just shrugged, “It was the right thing to do. Come on, let’s find that cup and get the hell out of here.”

“Thank you,” Cedric told him, but could only follow the other boy when all he got was a nod, Harry quickly moving on to search more.

Cedric studied him as they moved along the endless rows of green, both leaving different marks to note where they had already been. After a few minutes, the silence began to bug the fae Hufflepuff, as he was able to feel Harry’s irritation, as the younger boy grew more and more frustrated, “You really don’t want to be here, do you?”

“What was your first clue?”

“Your piss poor attitude during every task and the fact that you’ve gotten more and more irritated with everyone was a nice tip off,” Cedric told him, “Everyone else has gotten more and more determined and excited for every task.”

Glancing up at the older teen, Harry studied him for a few long moments, “The Diggory line has fae blood. How much stronger did the empathy get when you turned seventeen?”

“Are you a fae?” Cedric asked, surprised as he hadn’t known that fae blood ran in the Potter line and his father had been one hell of a stickler on family magics.

“It’s part of the pile,” Harry refused to overshare; at the moment the only people who knew that he had five inheritances were the members of the band. There was absolutely no reason to tell Diggory about his stacked magical family, especially if he didn’t want to drag the attractive Quidditch Captain into his drama.

“Well, I guess…” Cedric pondered the question for a moment, “It hadn’t really gotten stronger after I turned sixteen to be honest. It started coming in, on and off again, when I was twelve, but after sixteen it was almost constantly there. Once I came into the full inheritance the empathy was just steady and always there. It’ll only minimizes when I shield.”

“I don’t know if that’s comforting or not.”

“Inheritances are rarely convenient, according to my mother,” Cedrid disclosed, “So, I guess inconvenience and discomfort go hand in hand.

Without meaning to, Harry’s eyes rolled, “You sound like the headmaster.”

The bulky Hufflepuff heir reared back, although he was grinning, “No need to get nasty about it. It’s not like I was waxing poetically for an hour.”

The comment made the Gryffindor grin in turn, “Oh make no mistake, he only does that on special occasions. One liners are his specialty.”

It took another half an hour but the pair of Hogwarts champions finally found the Triwizard Cup. Cedric gestured to the blue and silver trophy, “You take it, you saved me.”

Harry grimaced, “The last time someone defected this cup in my family, the pair wound up life long rivals.”

“I don’t think it counts as life-long if they’re still alive… and best friends… and mates. They dueled once, big whoop,” Surprised, Harry’s head jerked in Cedric’s direction. Realizing the younger teen was surprised that he got the reference, the Hufflepuff shrugged, “Everyone knows that Albus Dumbledore let Gellert Grindelwald take the cup as a sign of affection back in ‘97. Dumbledore made a huge sensation taking a fellow champion to the Yule Ball, mates or no.”

Shaking his head, Harry sighed, “They might not have been able to expel their victorious champion that year, but Durmstrang’s headmaster found a way when Grandpa Gellert tried dating someone else at the start of his next year. Just take the stupid thing. You were right; I don’t want it.”

If Cedric thought he didn’t want the damn thing because of his great grandfather’s expulsion due to homophobia, he wasn’t going to argue. And, perhaps, that was a genuine part of his reluctance, as the damn thing seemed to be a curse on their family. Still, most of his worry was that if he won, the chances that he could keep his Grandpa Graves from coming back to Europe was slim to none, and he needed more time, no matter how much he longed to see the vampire Director in person. 

“Alright, let’s take it together!” Cedric was like a dog with a bone and he wasn’t going to let Harry live in fear of his family’s past hardships; he had developed quite a crush on the younger champion this year.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” Harry demanded with an eye roll.

“Not really, no,” The older teen snickered. He studied Harry, the reason he’d broken up with Cho after the Yule Ball.

Realizing the older teen had no intention of taking the cup if he didn’t participate, and knowing that Fleur and Viktor could need serious help, Harry nodded, “Alright, together.”

They grabbed the cup and suddenly Harry felt himself spinning toward a bright light, moving so fast that he felt like he was beyond time and space. Instantly he remembered the last time he’d felt this sensation, as a matter of fact Cedric had been there at that time as well. Together they landed on the cold hard ground with a thud, the impact knocking the air out of both boys for a moment.

“It’s a portkey,” Cedric pointed out as soon as he was able.

“Bloody hell,” Harry muttered, looking around to see that they were in a graveyard. He looked over to see a cauldron in a small clearing and gazed at the surrounding tombstones, taking in the names.

“Do you think it’s part of the tournament?” Cedric questioned, “Like, we have to find our way back?”

Harry didn’t respond because his blood ran cold, spotting one of the names, ‘Tom Riddle’ as a matter of fact, on a nearby grave. It looked like it had been dug up. Looking around he spotted movement from the mausoleum in front of them, and instantly identified the ratty Wormtail, carrying something.

“Kill the spare!”

Hearing a hiss like voice that certainly wasn’t Pettigrew, Harry threw his strongest shield around himself and Cedric, the green killing curse exploding before it could hit the Hufflepuff. Instantly, the Gryffindor knew that this was about to go south faster than his Firebolt could ever imagine to dream.

Something in his bones told Harry that he was out of time. If he was going to survive this, even if they were here, his band would no longer be enough. He needed his family. 

“Get back to the portkey, Cedric,” Harry called out, engaging Pettigrew in a duel.

The Hufflepuff refused, joining the fight, “I am not leaving you!”

“Get back, get Dumbledore. Then get the twins; they’ll know where I am,” Harry shouted, “Please! I can handle this tosser! You have to go”

Realizing that the Gryffindor knew who this was and had more information that he did, Cedric nodded, and summoned the portkey back to him. He disappeared quickly and Harry threw everything he had into battling his father’s traitorous rat of a friend. He hand to finish Wormtail and get to Nurmengard. As they fought, Harry began to realize that Pettigrew constantly shielded the bundle in his arms, so the Potter heir started targeting it.

When a stray Stupefy hit the bundle a sharp cry was released and Harry watched as a snake like face exploded from the cloud of dust that erupted from Wormtail’s arms. There was a strange sense of deja vu that took him back to his defeat of Quirrell during his first year. Getting a good look at the snake like face, Harry was sure that the hovering form was Voldemort, once more trying to come back to life. This was the chamber all over again then.

But, in this form, Harry knew that the Dark Lord could do nothing to him, so he continued dueling the bastard’s moron henchman. They battled for what felt like an hour, although it surely was not that long. Realizing that he was about to lose, Pettigrew dodged back into the mausoleum and reemerged almost as quickly, although Harry quickly realized that something had changed, when their casts locked together.

No matter what he tried he could not overpower the rat now, but after a few moments, golden sparks began to emerge from around Pettigrew. Ghost like shapes started to emerge from his opponents wand, the first taking the form of the grounds keeper he’d had a vision of earlier in the year. He watched until his parents also emerged and suddenly it struck him that he was fighting Voldemort’s wand; the same wand that housed Fawkes’ other feather.

James and Lily Potter rushed to their son’s side, although both could see that he’d figured out what was happening. Harry took advantage of Pettigrew’s terror at his parents’ presence and summoned a mirror behind the rat of a Gryffindor. When the chubby blonde turned to defend himself from whatever Harry had conjured, the Boy Who Lived had already cast another stunner, and it struck him in the chest before he realized what was happening.

With the lackey down, it was just him, those murdered, and the floating head. Somehow Voldemort managed to look snake like in appearance even as just a head but the voice that came out of the visage was more hiss like than when he’d ordered the rat to kill Cedric, “This is not over, Harry Potter. I will be back.”

“And I’ll be waiting, rest assured.”

“As long as you live, I will always come back,” The Dark Lord told him, before disappearing into the sky.

“We’ll see about that,” Harry muttered, mostly to himself. His potion was almost ready and then he could no longer be used to bring that bastard back to life. Once he found the locket and cup, Fawkes would take care of Nagini; it was the world’s only chance to be rid of his parents' murderer once and for all.

Turning to the dead that still lingered, Harry realized his parents had heard his comment, and clearly knew about his plan, “Mum, Dad…”

“My brave boy,” Lily said, unable to stop herself from reaching out, even though she knew what would happen.

Harry’s hand passed through her’s, part of him wasn’t surprised. He’d had the stone and debated giving it to his Grandpa Gellert since the previous school year, although he knew it didn’t work the way that the man had long hoped. If such a powerful object could not resurrect the dead, then whatever spell this was surely couldn’t.

James smiled, although it was sad, “Death is no easier than life, kiddo. Being able to see all your loved ones but never influence their course… It sucks as much as the responsibility of making the right choices for yourself and others with limited information.”

His son’s head tilted and although it looked so much like himself during life, the movement made James nostalgic for his last surviving mate when something struck the potions master as thought provoking, “I don’t think there is anything in my life you didn’t influence.”

Lily never thought she’d miss the ability to cry, but here they were, and she felt the urge to ball like a baby, although she remained unable, “You have to tell them the truth, Harry. You can’t go back there.”

There was no doubt about what she was referring to and Harry grimaced, “I need to find the others; it’ll be easier with Aunt....”

“I don’t care about easy!... There are times when we all have to choose between what is easy and what is right...” There was something Harry must have missed in the advice, if the snort of derision that Harry’s father gave at his mother’s words was any indication.

“You were never supposed to be left with your aunt, not ever!” Lily hissed, glaring at the sky, “We thought we were so smart and you paid the price for it. I’m so sorry, baby boy.”

The instinct to reach out and hug her was overwhelming, but the teenager knew it would be a moot point, “Mum, I’m here. I’m alive and able…” He sighed, observing the hard look in his father’s eyes, “I’ll tell them.”

Relief flooded James Potter, his son had been playing this dangerous game for far too long, with far too little support from any adult, “Take the rat to prison. You’ll be in Sirius’ custody before the summer starts.”

Harry turned away, moving toward the mausoleum, where Pettigrew had run to retrieve the wand, “How long will this last?”

“Not nearly long enough,” Lily confessed, “You tell your grandfather that…”

“Lils, we agreed we weren’t going to give him any messages,” James reminded her.

The previous redhead huffed, “Fine, I’ll handle it when he finally croaks. But, I am knocking his lights out for letting it go this far.”

The living Gryffindor grinned, as he entered the small structure. He wouldn’t trade places with Albus Dumbledore for anything. From the memories he’d gotten visions of from the likes of people like his father, Remus, and Sirius, Lily Potter’s ire was nothing to scoff at.

They followed him in and found a bag of bones, along with some sort of recipe.

“Bones of the father…” Harry pondered for a moment, before realizing what the Dark Lord’s plan had been.

“Blood of the enemy,” Lily read over his shoulder, “That might have destroyed the protection placed on you the night we died.”

“I guess we can’t leave these laying around for him to use later then,” Harry said, casting a ring of fire on the stone ground and tossing the bones in, “That should delay him, at least for a while.”

“Destroy the wand,” James instructed him, “That way he can’t use it against you.”

Harry nodded, moving outside to Pettigrew. He bound the man further, not wanting to risk him having any chance to get away. Somewhere above him, he heard a familiar call and opened his magic up to Fawkes, so the bird could find him faster. The phoenix arrived on the scene looking ready for a fight but the fourth year just smiled at him, “Don’t worry, bud, I’m fine.”

Taking up residency on his shoulder, the Dumbeldore familiar gave a pleasant call upon seeing Lily’s ghostly visage.

She smiled at her old friend, “Hello, Fawkes. Thank you for looking after Harry. Maybe just include Dad from now on?”

The immortal bird gave a pleasant call, although none of them were sure what it meant. No one but the familiar’s human could exchange thoughts with him, still they all hoped it was agreement when he flew from Harry’s shoulder and circled the ring of fire he’d cast. The flames turned a deep red, effectively turning the spell into a ring of phoenix fire meant the bones were dust in seconds and Harry would be able to destroy the wand.

He held the blasted thing up, “It looks like our time is up.”

Lily smiled at her hyper intelligent offspring, “Not really, your family is always with you.”

“Always,” Harry agreed.

“Your family are your allies, not your enemies,” James reminded him, knowing it was hard to believe after what the boy suffered at the Dursleys’ hands, “Let them make your life easier.”

“I’ll try,” Harry promised.

“I know your father has made mistakes that list a mile long…” Lily started but cut herself off getting emotional.

“Give him another chance,” James encouraged, “That snarky duelist you saw your second year is still in there somewhere.”

“We love you,” They said together.

“And I love you,” Harry said, before breaking the wand in half before he could find an excuse not to. The ghosts disappeared instantly and it was easy to throw both wand halves into the burning phoenix fire. Fawkes returned to his shoulder, his red cheek rubbing against Harry’s in an attempt at comfort.

“It’s alright, Fawkes,” Harry assured him, “Did the Headmaster send you this time?”

The bird gave a nod.

“Alright, let’s get this rat turned in and get to Nurmengard,” Harry suggested, “It looks like I’m overdue for a good thrashing from the Deathly Trio. Can’t wait to see how Graves and Dumbledore deal with one another.”

Fawkes took off, Harry assumed for the Austrian castle, knowing that he couldn’t go to Azkaban. He was a powerful magical familiar and easily identified with his human. Such a presence would only get Albus Dumbledore into trouble.

Knowing Cedric had gotten to Dumbledore and that there was no unringing a bell, Harry stepped forward to grab Pettigrew. Using a partial animagus form, making himself look like a half lion and half man creature, he side apparated the traitor directly to Azkaban. The creepy place was no where he wanted to linger. 

When Sirius found out that he’d been anywhere near here his godfather and uncle would probably have an aneurysm. There were two guards at the front door and he was relieved to see that one of them was Nymphadora Tonks, Remus’ wife and Teddy’s mother. There would be no room for funny business with her on the scene.

“This is the man that betrayed Lily and James Potter,” Harry informed them, his voice deep and gravely from the change, and nothing like his own, “Sirius Black is innocent.”

Throwing Pettigrew, still stunned and bound, onto the ground between them, Harry quickly apparated away. He wasn’t delusional enough to think that no one would know it was him; he’d have to tell everyone what happened in the graveyard. There was simply no reason to let anyone outside of his family know that it had been him at the prison… When it came up. 

The ministry could kiss his arse. Quite frankly, the idea of becoming an auror under his Grandpa Percy and Luna’s grandmother, rather than working under Britain’s crackpots, was becoming more and more appealing every day. As a matter of fact, he was considering talking to the Director about moving to the States with him the second he turned seventeen… He figured there was no way Sirius, or his Grandpa Abby for that matter, would let him leave anytime before he was of age.

Hitting the ground in front of Nurmengard, Harry immediately snuck inside, wanting to see if any of the guys had beaten him here. His Grandpa Gellert had made it so that all of them could get inside without him, but he wasn’t sure if enough time had passed for Cedric to rally both Dumbledore and the band. Honestly, he was hoping to get the other seer on his side before any of the others arrived, but there was the chance that the headmaster would use his brain and was already here to cut him off at the pass.

Walking into Gellert Grindelwald’s suite, Harry found that his great-grandfather was pacing a tried and true hole in the floor. The blonde had deaged to be forty something earlier that year, claiming that he was too old to be facing another TriWizard tournament at the time. Harry couldn’t lie, the older seer had been one of his biggest allies this year, in helping him survive the competition in one piece. 

“Grandpa…” Harry only got to start.

The previous Dark Lord didn’t think he’d ever moved so fast, as he spun to take in his grandson, who was dirty and exhausted from the final task, but who looked to be whole. He rushed over, using wandless magic to check the boy for injuries, grabbing for his face and running his hands over the teens arms, looking for anything the magic might miss, “Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened?”

Harry opened his mouth to explain then realized that he didn’t have the words. Huffing with frustration, he pulled the other seer over to the sofa, then once they were sitting, he locked eyes with the older wizard and just used legilimency, starting with his rescue of Cedric, although he ended the show before when he apparated away from the graveyard.

Once the memory was finished, the Grindelwald lord sat there processing, staring at his grandson for a few minutes. Finally he sighed, “What is it with your Dumbledores and avoiding your mates like we’re the plague?”

The snort that left Harry’s being was neither elegant nor tolerant, “Really! That’s what you took from that?!”

“Well that and the fact that your Grandpa Albus is an idiot,” Gellert hissed, “Serves me right for thinking that twinkly eyed moron had anything under control!”

The older seer stood and began messing with the fireplace, so Harry could only watch him, “What are you doing?”

“Summoning the one person you knew better than to face if you wanted to get away with this treachery.”

“Oh come on! Do we have to drag Grandpa Graves into this right away?” Harry whined, “How about…”

“How about nothing!” Gellert cut him off, “I’m summoning him and you can bet that, Merlin help us, your Grandpa Aberforth will be right behind him.”

Realizing that he was well and truly screwed, Harry slouched into the sofa throwing an arm over his face. After a moment, he moved the arm and watched with a knot in his stomach as his great grandfather began a firecall to his husband. There had been no doubt that this was coming, but damn he was dreading it. Especially the part where he’d have to keep his promise to his parents.

Knowing that Percy was staying at Aberforth Dumbledore’s loft in Hogsmeade so that they were nearby to get any news, Gellert wasn’t surprised to find both sitting before the younger Dumbledore’s fireplace. Their knuckles were white from their tight grips on the drinks in their hands, as they waited like ducks on a pond for any shred of news. Personally, he despised the fact that he was the one having to bite this bullet instead of Albie.

“You both need to get to Nurmengard,” Gellert said without preamble, “We’ve got an emergency with the boy.”

He pulled back to his castle, leaving them with no room for questions. This wasn’t something he was going to try to explain. Gellert wasn’t honestly even sure that he had the words for what Harry had managed tonight, between winning the tournament, facing down his parents murderer, and taking down Pettigrew.

Turning back to his grandson, he cast a quick cleaning charm on the teenager, freshening him up, before joining him on the sofa. It wasn’t the main issue, but, after a moment to ponder, he realized that Harry hadn’t processed the information himself, “You realize, of course, that you technically won the tournament.”

“Umm…” Harry hadn’t even thought about that, “Yeah, I guess. I tied with Cedric anyway.”

“Too bad your Grandpa Albus and I didn’t think of that,” Gellert admitted, “Of course, his stubborn arse probably wouldn’t have cooperated. He tends toward his grand gestures.”

“And his one liners,” Harry added.

“Those too,” He allowed. He thought about the memory Harry had shown him, “What did your parents want you to tell us?”

Harry gulped, “It was about my aunt…”

“Every parent makes mistakes, I’m sure Andy didn’t mean for whatever happened to go wrong,” Gellert tried to comfort him, assuming the Gryffindor was worried about four powerful wizards being angry at the healer. He’d always been fond of Sirius’ older cousin; she was by far the strongest of Cygnus’ children.

“Who?” Harry questioned.

“Excuse me?”

“Who is Andy?”

That was his first clue that something was wrong. He’d assumed that Lily’s apology was just about the marauders letting things go so wrong by not communicating with their parents. After all, that seemed to be a good lesson to drill into Harry now before it was too late.

“What Aunt are you talking about?” Gellert decided to seize control of the conversation.

“My Aunt Petunia.”

“Lily’s adoptive sister? The muggle?”

“Yes, she’s who I lived with after…” Harry trailed off, not wanting to say it.

Luckily he didn’t have to, Gellert filled in the blanks quickly. It had always been the plan for Harry to go to his Uncle and godfather if things went south, but they’d been at war. They had back up plans for their back up plans during those days and Sirius had one hell of a dangerous job. If Sirius couldn’t take care of Harry, they’d planned to send him to Andy, who already had one daughter, although she was several years older than his grandson. There had also been a plan for Harry to go to his muggle grandparents, at least for some time, if they needed to get him out of the magical world… And with Lily’s adamance that Harry have both parents and grandparents, of course her muggle sister would have been another viable option when the Evans passed.

“Alright then, let’s go back to the original question,” Gellert told him.

Harry swallowed again, but knew that there was no avoiding it now, “It’s hard to explain. It would be easier to show you.”

“Okay,” Gellert acquiesced, assuming that Harry meant using legilimency again. He was surprised when the boy stood up and began to unbutton his shirt. When he saw fearful green eyes glance toward him several times, he was reminded of Credence and carefully kept his face blank. 

What he saw when Harry pulled his shirt apart and dropped his glamours was horrifying. There were scars all over Harry’s abdomen, carving into him like a turkey. The worst of them all was the word ‘freak’ that was centered over his belly button in capital letters. Knowing that if he showed his rage it would only make Harry clam up, Gellert took a deep breath, grateful that no one else had arrived just yet. He reached over to trace the foul word with his finger, “Is that why your seer abilities frightened you so much?”

“You’re a seer?!”

Without thinking Harry spun toward the door, where he found Albus Dumbledore, along with Neville, Draco, and the twins, plus Cedric Diggory, staring at him. Their attention quickly settled onto his visible torso and he saw the absolute terror enter the Headmaster’s eyes. The twins and Draco gasped, the animated blonde’s hand going over his mouth, while all Neville did was flinch, having seen it before. Harry intentionally avoided looking at Cedric, he wasn’t emotionally ready to see the disgust in his mate’s eyes.

He huffed, “I’m fine, it’s just a few scars. And yes.”

Gellert hissed but was unable to argue the point as the floo fired green. 

Harry rushed to button up his shirt before the smoke cleared and couldn’t have been more grateful to be successful when Percival Graves stepped out of the fireplace, “Grandpa Percy!”

As the Director of Security for Macusa caught the excited teenager, Gellert couldn’t help but smile at the way his husband lit up because of Harry’s enthusiasm. The two fussed over one another for several minutes and it quieted the rage that was simmering beneath his surface. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kick Albus’ arse later, but logically he knew that his other mate would never put Harry in danger intentionally.

That thought was reaffirmed when he glanced over at the aged wizard and saw his inner turmoil. He rolled his eyes at the mile long beard and bright colored robes. The other genius really was going for a second coming of Merlin vibe these days.

“Look at you,” Percy exclaimed, running a hand through Harry’s hair, mesmerized by seeing his grandson for the first time since he was a baby.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Harry bubbled with excitement as he took in the legendary vampire Director of Security for Macusa. He would have been lying to say he didn’t imagine being the man one day. Despite being the grandparent who was farthest away, the oldest wizard of the family was his idol.

“Well, you seem to be in one piece after the final task,” Percy acknowledged, pulling Harry to the side as Abby followed him through.

“He also won,” Gellert put in, knowing Harry wouldn’t claim it, “He tied with Diggory.”

Percy glanced over to the young wizard in yellow, to whom his husband nodded. He couldn’t remember what house was associated with the color but he nodded to him, before turning back to his grandson, “Congratulations are in order then. Way to go, kiddo!”

“So, what’s with this red alert?” Aberforth demanded as the smoke cleared. He couldn’t believe he was actually stooping to coming to Nurmengard but if Albus had lost control of the situation, there was no way he was leaving Harry to fend for himself with his older brother and the blonde terror. Percy had offered to handle whatever was going on, but he wasn’t one for abandoning his best friend to the drama that was their family either. 

He still smiled at his best friend’s reunion with their grandson. It made his nostalgic for Orion, who Harry would never get to meet. The wizard would have loved to be here, to see their grandson’s victory.

Harry hugged the younger Dumbledore brother as well, before running a hand through his dark curls, “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Wait ‘til you hear what happened back at school,” Draco offered, finally moving to hug his best friend.

Neville and the twins all nodded, following just behind the blonde Slytherin.

“Oh gods, what now?” Harry demanded.

He and Draco locked eyes and he was sucked into a memory. He watched as Voldie’s floating head appeared above the crowd and foretold of his return. From what Harry gathered of Draco’s perspective the band had moved to stand together on the first row of seats, closest to Dumbledore and Cedric, where the boy had obviously just crashed back to the scene. As the floating head monologued, Alastor Moody transformed into another man, causing all hell to break loose. 

Harry watched as the floating head took off and the strange man tried to follow, but was held at bay by his father and McGonagall. While all the other students ran toward the castle, the band quickly joined the adults and expressed that they knew where Harry was and that they were going to him, with or without the adults’ permission. Cedric had quickly joined their strong front and wound up getting himself taken to Nurmengard as well.

“Bloody fucking hell,” Harry cursed.

“What started all this ruckus?” Draco demanded and Harry quickly moved to show him the same memory he’d shown his grandfather, although he added in his side trip to azkaban this time. If anyone deserved to know what was coming, it was Sirius’ son.

Neither noticed Gellert spawn the memory from his own recollection for everyone else, but Harry was grateful, after he finished with Draco, that the older seer had done so. There was no easy way to sum up the night and he didn’t want to go through the memory with each person individually. He collapsed onto another sofa nearby, Neville and Draco joining him, as the Potter heir waited for everyone to process all that they’d seen. Cedric and the twins took the other sofa, while Albus hopped up on Gellert’s desk, and Abby took one of the recliners nearby, expecting Percy to join him in the other.

Harry noticed the Headmaster flinch when his daughter’s spirit talked about the choice between what was right and easy, as well as when she threatened him with violence post mortem.

Instead of joining his best friend by the fire, the Director turned to Harry, arms crossing, “What’s going on with Andy that we need to know?”

The teen flinched and the Graves lord looked toward his husband for an explanation. Seeing that something wasn’t right, Abby looked over to his brother, but only found him pale and with his eyes shut. Both wizards used their mate and familial bonds to find out what was happening as quickly as possible.

All the teens besides Harry knew that they were missing something.

After viewing Gellert’s memory, all Percival could see was red. He turned toward Albus Dumbledore, his fangs descending, and having every intention of ripping one of his own mates throat’s out with his teeth. The once scarlet haired Headmaster had the good sense to look terrified, although he didn’t move, even when the vampire started in his direction.

Abby jumped up quickly, putting himself between his best friend and his big brother, grabbing the vampire by the shoulders, “Don’t Percy, please don’t! I’m asking.”

Breaking eye contact with Albus Dumbledore, Percy’s head turned so that he was nose to nose with his best friend of almost five decades. They stared at each other, everyone else in the room both terrified and intrigued by what conversation passed silently between them. Finally, after several long and tense moments, the Director took a step back from his friend and looked back at the Headmaster. He gave a deep growl with extended fangs, but quickly turned away from the other wizard.

It wasn’t until he turned away that he realized both Gellert and Harry had stood up, ready to intervene if Abby failed to calm him. The vampire snorted internally, it would have been a cute effort. He pulled his grandson into a hug, noting that the teenager clung to him in a fiercer capacity then his earlier jovial embrace. What he was going to do to the Dursley family would go down as legendary, that much was for sure.

The rest of the teenagers remained staring at the adults, not sure what to do.

“Where are Sirius and Remus?” Gellert asked his husband, once the man had sunk into a recliner, and Harry returned to his seat, after an embrace from Aberforth.

“On their way,” The Director offered simply.

“What about Severus?” Abby asked his brother, pulling the older fae from where he was staring at the back of Harry’s head, his gaze filled with shame.

“He’ll be here once he’s cleared with the authorities from his capture of Crouch Jr.”

The younger Dumbledore nodded, “Alright then, we need to get…”

He froze when he looked over at the kids and found Harry’s gaze locked with the blonde next to him. They were clearly having a silent conversation, sharing information that they didn’t want the adults to have, if their solid shielding was any indication, “Excuse me! What else can you two possibly need to share with the class?”

Harry knew that his dad had said that his family wasn’t the enemy, but there was no way that he was confessing to breaking into the Headmaster’s office and hunting for horcruxes, until he could speak to the older Dumbledore alone. He told Draco as much, but he knew they had to confess to something. So they agreed that his best friend’s parentage was their best bet. If Voldie was trying to pop his arse back to life, getting the Slytherin’s mother and sister to safety was imperative.

“I’m not Lucius Malfoy’s son,” Draco confessed, “I found out my second year when we brewed heritage potions that Sirius Black is my father.”

Everyone blinked for several long moments. Finally, Aberforth sighed, although he couldn’t help but smile at his grandson in what he hoped was reassurance, “Sirius and Remus are apparating in. I’m going downstairs to catch them before they get up here.”

Wanting to break the tension that the reveal created, Gellert took a slight detour of dialogue, “So, you’re Vinda’s great grandson?”

The grin that broke out on Draco’s face was blinding as he finally took in Gellert Grindelwald, the legend his mother had often spun tales about, one of the few that hadn’t been a secret to be kept from Lucius Malfoy. He nodded, not trusting his voice.

He smiled down at Little Cissy’s son, “What is it with you Rosier’s taking high maintenance best mates?”

“Oh sure, because he’s a real gem to put up with,” Harry muttered.

The comment started a tussle between the boys that ended in Neville having to hop up on the back of the sofa with a shout, before the other two Peverell heirs finally spilled onto the floor. The adults were content to let them wrestle, as it was obvious that they weren’t really trying to harm one another. Finally, Harry pinned Draco, making his confess Gryffindor’s superiority, before letting him go. 

As the two ruffians reclaimed their seats, Harry realized he’s been remiss in check on his other friends, “Are Vik and Fleur alright?”

“They’re fine,” Cedric offered, speaking for the first time since they arrived, “When Professor Snape defeated Crouch, it broke the imperius curse that he’d placed on both of them. Apparently he was trying to keep us all out of your way, but failed when you saved me from Krum.”

“I’m glad they’re alright, Bill would have had my arse,” Harry gave an exaggerated shudder. 

“Who are you telling?’ George demanded.

“Boy’s got a protective streak a mile wide!” Fred concurred.

“Who?” Percival questioned. He knew that Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum were Harry’s competition in the tournament, but his grandson had never referred to a Bill in his letters.

“Bill is Fleur and Viktor’s mate,” Harry disclosed, “He’s also the twin’s oldest brother. They met when Bill was visiting Charlie, their brother who works with dragons, during the first task.”

“Why didn’t they just take each other to the Yule Ball then?” Gellert asked confused. He’d heard entirely too much about the drama associated with finding dates for that blasted event. Admittedly, it made him realize how long it had been since he’d been around someone under forty and it had made him nostalgic for Jamie and the other marauders.

“Because _ some people _ hogged the glorious scandal of taking a co-champion to the ball,” Harry offered without missing a beat.

When his Grandpa Graves burst into full belly laughter and both the Headmaster and previous Dark Lord went red as howlers, he felt wonderfully accomplished. That he’d even managed to pull a chuckle from his Grandpa Abby who’d been their to suffer his brother’s dramatic flair was only greater vindication. All his friends snickered as well, especially when they had the glory of knowing that Grindelwald walked himself right into that one.

“Fair enough,” Percy chuckled despite his ire, “So who did they end up taking?”

“Well,” Draco started, causing all the Gryffindors to groan in unison, “Kiss my arse, each of you! See, Viktor’s little brother is mates with Roger Davies, but the Davies family is still terribly homophobic, so they couldn’t go together. So, Fleur took Roger to keep his family off his back. Did I understand that, having to take Parkinson to keep Lucius Malfoy from making my life hell? Yes, I did. George naturally took Angie and then Fred took Alicia. Then that freed up Viktor to take Mione, on Harry’s recommendation, so that he and Ron could take his cousins, the Patil twins, and Neville could take Ginny, with Ron’s blessing. And you have no idea how much effort it took to get that arranged!”

Each of the adults was having to bite their tongue to keep from laughing as Draco moved his hands wildly for emphasis, although that wasn’t the funny part. The humor was from the Gryffindors waving their hands in perfect imitations of the blonde’s movements, obviously having sat through the arrangement discussion quite a few times. Albus shook with laughter and was grateful that all the teens had their backs to him, where he was perched on Gellert’s desk.

“Why wasn’t I involved in this?” Cedric demanded. He’d thought all of the champions got really close, with the adults surrounding them trying to pit them against one another at every turn. It was natural that they chose to be friends rather than enemies and he’d never heard of Viktor and Fleur being mates, or there being a big conspiracy in who everyone took to the Yule Ball.

“You had a girlfriend,” Harry dismissed, “There was no need to drag you into our plotting.”

“I wouldn’t say no reason,” Gellert said, largely without thinking.

Albus saw the withering look that Harry gave his great grandfather, as did Percival. For the first time they met eyes in genuine inquiry, curious if the other knew what had just happened. If looks could kill, their mate would have burst into slow roasting flames from Harry’s glare alone. Realizing that the other knew nothing, Albus gently opened up his mating bonds for the first time in almost a century, as Percival gently prodded Gellert for an answer.

Percy snorted when G revealed that the Hufflepuff was Harry’s mate and that their grandson was hiding it from the older teen, “Kiddo, I know you’ve been raised by him for the last four years, but trust me… That’s not a pattern of behavior you want to repeat.”

Albus flinched but nodded, “He’s not wrong.”

“Can we please not have this discussion right now? New topic!”

Harry was relieved when Fawkes came soaring through the window with a pleasant call. He’d expected the bird to beat him here, but supposed it was natural for his Grandpa Albus’ familiar to go looking for his human at Hogwarts, before coming here. 

The Headmaster let the phoenix perch on his shoulder, hearing Abby and the remaining men from the marauders’ generation, including Severus, coming back up the stairs to join them. The four men came through the doorway, Sirius’ eyes seeking out both Harry and Draco instantly. He was across the room before any of the other adults could blink, “Are you hurt? Sometimes it can be hard to tell if you’ve got a vampire’s pain tolerance…”

“No, we’re fine,” Harry told him, both the boys jumping up. 

Draco was a little unsure what to do, but he’d followed his best mate for this long, so he trusted the dark skinned Potter not to lead him astray.

“...Adrenaline is a tricky thing,” Sirius continued, not hearing a word Harry said, his hands grabbing for both boys, “Has anyone checked you over? Some injuries you can’t just…”

“We’re fine, Padfoot,” Harry laughed, pushing his godfather off.

Sirius moved to continue his rant, panicked over both boys. 

Draco liked the fawning. his mother tried to give him plenty of attention but she was naturally a calm presence. Affectionate yes, flamboyant never. He let the wizard who was actually his father paw at him happily, realizing this was just the man’s natural tendency, by Harry’s calm reaction.

“He said they’re fine, Pads,” Remus told him, yanking the man back with a slight growl to see Harry himself. He pulled the teen into a hug, “What happened?”

“Just watch these,” Albus recommended, spawning the memory Harry had shown them and his own. 

Seeing Cedric’s wide eyes at the sight of Sirius, Harry decided to give them an excuse to leave the room, heading for the stairs. The others quickly started following him, but they barely made it to the stairs before his godfather noticed their departure, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I left something in Dad’s room last time I was here,” Harry said quickly, “Geeze, I’m moving in with Remus and Tonks; a two year old has to be easier to deal with then your dramatic tendencies!”

Sirius rolled his eyes as the teens disappeared up the stairs and the adults looked back at the memories. He saw the smirk on Remus’ face from the corner of his eye, “Wipe the smug off your face, Moony.”

Remus tried, he really did, but his grin was immovable. He knew that it wasn’t like either of them could get custody of Harry anytime soon, but their battle to be the favorite uncle was unending. It had been ever since Lily announced that she was pregnant.

They finished the set of memories before anyone spoke again. It was Severus who demanded, “What happened with Andromeda?”

Gellert sighed and showed them the memory of what happened before Albus and the other kids arrived.

The potions master thought he was going to be sick. He never would have let his son be left with Petunia. When Albus had asked him if Harry wouldn’t be safer with his aunt in the aftermath of James and Lily’s death, he genuinely thought that the middle Black sister was taking Harry into the muggle world, that had been the plan. It was such an honest mistake, such a genuine miscommunication, that had led to so much hardship and terror for his son. Those scars, gods they were worse than anything his own father had ever done to his own flesh and blood. And if anyone should have seen it… But he’d ignored every sign there ever was. 

Remus growled, his eyes glowing ember, as he stared at the Headmaster. He’d lost faith in everything when he thought that Sirius had betrayed James and he’d trusted the man before him when Albus said that Harry was safe with his aunt. Lily hadn’t spoken of Petunia often, but when she had it had always been with hurt and bitter disappointment. If he’d known he would have… Well, maybe he never could have gotten custody of Harry as he was considered a monster himself, but he would have made sure the baby was left with someone besides the monsters he’d had to endure in those Muggles!

Sirius was livid, but he was glad that Harry, and Draco for that matter, were upstairs as his magic went crazy around the room. How could anyone let that happen? His godson had only been a year old when he’d been stuck with the Dursley family. He didn’t care about wards, or his own legal status, or the muggle world being safer, he was not letting Harry go back there… But what had happened to Peter? Had Harry brought him here? Gods, he hoped so! What had James been thinking? Harry had no business anywhere near Azkaban.

When his father had told him the truth, that Narcissa’s son was theirs, he’d reopened their mating bond, which he’d only closed to protect her while he was in that hell hole. He’d told her to get out of Malfoy Manor and now he was sending knowledge of what had occurred in the memories to her across the bond. She’d be at Nurmengard with her daughter, their daughter as far as he was concerned, soon enough. He was grateful for her calm presence as he tried to process his rage.

Rewatching the memory with the children safely upstairs, Gellert’s rage lit anew. He stood and turned to Albus, who had wandered over to show the first two memories of the night. The cracking sound that echoed through the room registered in the siren’s ears before he even realized he’d slapped his mate.

“What in Hel’s name were you thinking? You were the only one who knew he was there and you left him!” Gellert hissed.

“G, I never thought… Oh God, his aunt demanded that they not be bothered by the magical world until he went to school. I thought he’d be safer there. That they would…” Albus broke off, a sob racking through him, tears pouring down his face, “I never would have put him in danger.”

Anger dissipating slightly, Gellert reached out to pull Albus into his arms. It was only when Albus collapsed into him, that the siren registered slight movement from Aberforth out of the corner of his eye. He’d been moving to defend his brother, thinking that Gellert was going to strike him again. The blonde fought the urge to roll his eyes; the notion that the Dumbledore brothers didn’t love each other really was absurd. 

A snowy white owl flew through the window with the special edition of the paper that was covering the tournament and a mild screech. Percy quickly moved to take it from Hedwig, glad that he still had some owl treats in his pocket to give her, as she’d obviously gone out of her normal route to find Harry. Taking a look at the front page, his first thought was that Harry’s comment about moving in with Remus, rather than Sirius, hadn’t just been an ideal. He threw the paper onto Aberforth’s lap, where he’d reclaimed a recliner.

“Harry James Potter!” The younger Dumbledore brother screamed upon seeing the three headlines.

When the teens arrived upstairs, Harry let the band collapse around the room as they normally did, while he led Cedric over to the window seat, “Sirius Black is innocent of all the crimes he went to Azkaban for. He was never a deatheater.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am, the news is going to break tomorrow that the real traitor has been captured and taken into custody.”

“How?”

“The man I was fighting in the graveyard, that was Peter Pettigrew. As you saw, alive, well, and a deatheater.”

Cedric felt his eyes widen, “I left you…”

“I was more than capable of taking down Peter. You did the right thing,” Harry assured him.

The Hufflepuff studied him for several moments, “What did your… umm… they were talking about the Yule Ball.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh at his stumble and with his family aware of their bond, he figured there was no avoiding it now, “They’re my grandparents. Percival Graves is married to Gellert Grindelwald, pretty much everyone knows that. And they had my grandfather, Fleamont Potter. Grandpa Graves was born…”

“Henry Potter,” Cedric nodded, he remembered that, “Then he took over his mother, Isolt Graves’, family name when he went to America to become the first vampire auror. It was still illegal here.”

“Right,” Harry acknowledged, “And my Grandpa Aberforth was mated to Orion Black, but when Grandpa Abby couldn’t have kids, Grandpa Orion and Grandpa Albus used a potion to have my mother, Lily Potter. She was kidnapped by muggle extremists when she was a baby and adopted by a muggle family, the Evans. She discovered who she was at birth when she was fourteen.”

The Triwizard victor couldn’t help it, he snorted, “You have the most convoluted family I’ve ever heard of and that’s saying something in the magical world. We have magical families that connect with Greek mythology.”

Harry laughed, “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“I didn’t know that James and Lily Potter had another mate,” Cedric admitted. He felt like that was something that should be common knowledge throughout the wizarding world. Everything else about the legend, down to the pranks once pulled by the deceased Potter lord, were shared about the pair after they passed.

Huffing the younger boy explained, “Severus Snape was their third mate. He was a spy for Albus Dumbledore and they kept it a secret for his protection.”

The prefect was shocked, “So, Professor Snape is your father?”

“Yes,” Harry admitted.

“Oh,” Seeing that the Gryffindor was uncomfortable and with nothing else to go back to, Cedric return to his previous inquiry, “So, what were your grandparents talking about downstairs?”

The sudden silence of the room was deafening. When he glanced over everyone in the band was making themselves look busy with a magazine or prank design, but there was no doubt that they were listening. The Potter heir sighed, “You heard them say that I was a seer downstairs?”

“Yeah, that’s really cool. Being able to see the future!” Cedric told him. Most thought that he took divination to take a break from his other grueling courses, but few realized how much he loved the subject. 

“It has its moments,” Harry allowed, “They were talking about the vision I got of my mate, letting me know who they were before I turned fifteen this summer. I have been choosing not to tell them and they were… discouraging me from doing that anymore. No one wants me to take after my Grandpa Albus in that department.”

Everyone knew that Albus Dumbledore had avoided his mates for a century, closing down his bonds after his sister was killed. So, Cedric wasn’t surprised that no one wanted the same for the Potter family heir, the legendary Boy Who Lived. He nodded, if a little disappointed, “I can see where they wouldn’t want that for you. But what does that have to do with the Yule Ball?”

Harry chuckled, “They weren’t talking about the Ball. They were talking about your inclusion in the discussion about dates for that evening.”

“Oh, okay, what do I have to…” The only logical conclusion slapped him from within and his eyes shot to Harry’s quickly, “We’re mates?”

“Can you imagine it?” Harry asked, “If we’d gone together and Vik and Fleur had? Grandpa Graves never would have given me a moments peace, following in the family tradition.”

“So when we were in the maze and I tried to let you take the cup…”

Harry chuckled, “Not to ruin the grand parallel, but that had less to do with worry about walking in anyone’s footsteps and more to do with not wanting to wind up here, answering to my whole family… We see how that worked out.”

“Not to intrude on the moment,” Draco finally butted in, knowing they were on limited time before they needed to get back downstairs, “But I’m getting sporadic feelings from Mum. I think my father has opened their mating bond and told her to run.”

“Then let her,” Harry told him, “There isn’t a much safer place she could get to than here with the Deathly Trio all in attendance.”

“What did you do with Pettigrew?” Neville asked, the band coming to form a circle around them at the window seat. 

“Dropped him off at Azkaban. Remus’ wife was on shift, so the news should break with the morning edition.”

“What about the cup?”

“Even if we have to plan this from the magical world, nothing has changed. We infiltrate Gringotts and destroy it, then we keep searching for the locket.”

“Are you insane?” Cedric demanded, “No one can break into that bank!”

Harry smiled at the older teen, “Don’t worry so much. We’ve pulled crazier stunts with less planning… We’ve been tracking down Voldemort’s horcruxes for years now,” He turned back to the band, “I am going to tell Dumbledore about those that we’ve found and destroyed. He needs to know where the actual threats are with Voldie and what we’re capable of. I’m sick of him trying to keep me at the kids table.”

Staring at the fourth year, Cedric finally demanded, “How smart and powerful are you?”

“Yes,” Neville offered.

“The answer to that question is yes,” Draco affirmed.

There was the sound of a screech from downstairs and Harry’s eyebrows drew together, “That sounded like Hedwig.”

“Our time to grab something was up anyway,” Fred told them.

“We need to get back to Hogwarts anyway. We’ve got the girls and Ron staying alert for any news,” George told them.

Harry was relieved as they moved down to the living area. He knew that Cedric had the loyalty of Hufflepuff, while Ron, Hermione, Parvati, and Ginny had eyes in Gryffindor, and Padma and Luna, Ginny’s best friend, had eyes in Ravenclaw. Draco assured him that Blaise had eyes in Slytherin and hopefully with his father finding out how much Harry knew tonight, maybe their relationship would change… Maybe he should let the man know about the letters from his other parents?

The screech of his name from Aberforth Dumbledore as they descended into the room made him jump, but he relaxed upon seeing what the man was holding, “Forgot all about the special edition on the tournament.”

“I’ll bet you did,” Abby muttered, throwing the paper down on the wet bar that the teens moved to inhabit, “Who did you give Pettigrew to?”

“What?” Harry asked, genuinely confused. He looked over the paper and realized that the ‘good samaritan’ had only been described as a half lion, half man creature. He giggled, “I didn’t give him to anybody.”

“That was you?” Sirius demanded, “You went within a mile of Azkaban? What were you thin…”

Remus grabbed his shoulder to halt his panicked spill of verbal concern, “How did you become a half lion creature and does it have anything to do with why my son has called you ‘Kitty’ more often then he’s called you ‘Harry’ since we brought him to the first task?”

Harry shared looks with the band, “We may as well, the werewolf already has us figured out.”

“McGonagall is going to kill us and it will not be with mercy,” Neville reminded them.

Draco snorted, “Who are you telling?”

All five transformed into their animagus forms. Harry became a massive American lion, Draco a gigantic white direwolf, Neville a colossal kodiak bear, and, while the smallest, the twins turned into rapid quick red foxes. They all sat on their haunches, letting the adults take them in; they were an impressive lot.

“Woah, you’re an animagus!” Cedric cried from his barstool, hopping up to stand next to Harry, “That is so advanced and amazing! Can I…?”

Harry nodded, swallowing down a purr, as he absolutely refused to lose his dignity in front of the family members he respected most. The Hufflepuff’s hand combing through his mane made it a challenge however. Whatever yelling the adults might have been tempted to do was halted by the floo firing green.

Narcissa Black stepped into Nurmengard holding her daughter, Capricornia, and her eyes instantly fell to Sirius. They stared at one another for a long moment and she was ready to collapse into him, but was halted when he daughter gave a frightened gasp. Following the toddler’s line of sight she took a step back as a huge direwolf was prancing toward them.

Realizing he was scaring his mother and sister, Draco quickly changed back, hands flying up in the standard innocent pose, “It’s just me. Don’t freak out.”

Capri screamed her brother’s name and all but leaped into his arms from her mother’s. 

After a moment, observing them and the other animagi at the bar with a Hufflepuff she believed to be Cedric Diggory, Narcissa could only roll her eyes, “When you decided to take after your father, you really went all the way, son.”

“I know, isn’t it grand,” Sirius said and Cissy could hear the utter delight in his voice.

She quickly turned and let her mate pull her into a tight embrace. It felt like she was able to breathe for the first time in thirteen years. When he finally pulled back, it was only far enough to steal a searing kiss, before finally stepping away to let her take in the room.

It was comforting to have Gellert instantly there and embracing her; she hadn’t seen the man since Sirius was arrested. After all, she was the siren’s mate and all of them had been led to believe that the Black family’s rogue had betrayed the previous Dark Lord’s only heir and grandson. Still, the man had been like a grandfather to her, and she’d missed his desperately since her grandmother died. 

Returning his attention to the young animagi, Sirius wandered over to his godson, where Remus already was. Draco was trying to get his sister to interact with the animals, but the lion and bear clearly terrified her. Seeing her fear, the two stayed back and let the twins approach her first.

“It’s okay, Capri, these are my friends Fred and George,” Draco explained, “They’re just using magic to look like foxes. Just like I was using it to look like a wolf.”

Less worried about the smaller canines, she allowed her brother to put her down, and reached for the two. George licked her hand gently, then turned over on his belly in a clear invitation to pet him. That earned a giggle from the little girl, who settled to play with the two.

“It’s a very impressive form,” Sirius told his godson, “For a cat.”

Remus smiled when Harry growled at his godfather, continuing to run his hand through the thick mane on the lion’s other side, opposite Diggory, “I think it’s fantastic, Harry.”

That earned him a purr.

When Diggory moved to check out Neville’s animagus form, Percy took his place, leaving Albus with the Hufflepuff by the bear. He was still angry about what the fae had allowed to happen, as well as the fact that he’d obviously been ignoring Harry as his grandson for the last four years, and the way the Headmaster had ignored him for all but a century… He was just angry. Seeing Gellert slap him had been satisfying, but it wasn’t enough.

Rage is a vampire’s constant companion and he was beyond irate.

Even when he’d left for the States, escaping from spousal kidnapping during the height of his husband’s war, and taken their son with him, Percy had never muted his mating bonds. As angry as he’d been at Gellert, he’d never, ever, been willing to let something or someone hurt the blonde if he could prevent it. Before tonight, when the worst he knew of Albus was that the fae was willing to ignore him for decades on end, he’d never been willing to turn their relationship into a tit for tat exchange and mute his side of the bond as well. Right now, he craved the silence that muting his bond with the fae would bring like the sweetest form of relief possible.

He fawned over his great grandson, not wanting the boy to sense any of his anger and think it was directed at him for a moment.

“You’re not afraid he’ll eat you?”

It took the Director a moment to realize that the question had been directed at the two marauders and himself. He smiled at the little girl, “No, he’s my grandson. He’s not going to hurt you; he’s just a person that looks like a lion.”

“Look, your brother can look like an animal too,” Sirius told her, gesturing to Draco, “Remember, he was doing it when you got here.”

The girl went easily to the Black lord when he gestured for her. And Draco quickly changed back to his canine form when Siri…. His father motioned to him and his sister was looking. In his wolf form he went to sit before the two, Capri still backing up onto the dark haired wizard’s shoes, “That’s really Draco?”

“Yes, it is.”

She looked over to her mother and godfather, “Really? It’s Dray?”

“Yes,” Narcissa and Severus assured in unison where they had been comparing notes with Gellert by the fireplace.

Slowly she reached out for the massive wolf, petting his head. He wasn’t as large as Harry, and certainly not Neville, but no one could blame the two year old for being cautious. Draco just gave a small huff of reassurance, before he got up and trotted over to Harry. Capri was obviously curious, but she made sure to drag Sirius with her to confront the large cat. 

Harry laid down, so that he didn’t tower over her quite as much. She reached out to pet his mane, running a hand over his dark curls. When he didn’t seem to mind, she ventured away from Sirius and ran a hand over the golden circles that created a pattern on the jet black fur of his back.

She drew a hard line at going anywhere near Neville, so the teen quickly changed back. Waving to her and showing her that he was just a normal sized person and nothing to be afraid of. The small blonde was fascinated when all the boys changed back.

When the clock on the wall struck one in the morning, everyone knew that it was past time to get the teenagers back to Hogwarts and everyone else somewhere safe. Aberforth didn’t want his son or grandchildren far from him, so he suggested that they all go to his and Orion’s old house in Hogsmeade. He’d shut the place down and moved to an apartment over his bar when Sirius was arrested, unable to deal with the memories of his sons that haunted every inch of the house. Still, it had preservation charms and they should have no problem fixing a few rooms up for himself, Sirius, Narcissa, Capri, and Percy.

“I’m going to stay here,” The Director told him, “If Harry destroyed Voldemort’s previous wand, I don’t trust that he wouldn’t come here looking for information on the elder wand.”

Gellert started, he hadn’t thought of that, even when he saw Harry destroy the Dark Lord’s previous wand in the memory. Still, he was warded beyond measure and Harry was the priority, “I’ll be fine, you need to be near Harry. He can’t use a wand as a floating head anyway.”

“Hundreds of kids just saw Voldemort’s visage and he threatened them with impending resurrection,” Percival pointed out, “When parents start making demands of the Ministry, I don’t trust the current administration not to try and rope you into this somehow. I’m not leaving.”

Seeing the seer about to argue, Albus moved to agree with the Director, “He’s right, G. Besides, if something goes wrong he can floo directly into my office from here.”

“Fine, fine, have it your way,” Gellert gave in. He pulled Harry to him one last time, “Please lay low. I’ll make them keep you in the loop, if you’re willing to do the same.”

“Deal!” Harry promised, that was all he’d ever really wanted from the adults in his family.

Albus suggested they floo directly to his office, since he had a direct connection to Nurmengard. He and Graves had been expected to maintain control of containing Gellert when he was imprisoned, so everyone moved quickly to the fireplace. Severus went through first, followed closely by the teenagers, Narcissa and Capri, and then the marauders and the Dumbledores.

Once they were alone, Gellert took in his husband. The man was all but shaking with his anger and for once the siren was unsure of how to make it better, “Perce…”

“I should have made him tell me where he put Harry,” The Potter and Graves lord collapsed into the chair at his husband’s desk, “I should have demanded to see Sirius rather than trusting that God damned auror’s report!”

Gellert flinched. They’d known nothing about the leak in Sirius’ department. When the report said that he’d confessed under veritaserum, no one had any reason to suspect that Sirius could have been anything but guilty of the treachery which he’d been accused. Still, the siren was aware that Aberforth and Orion’s oldest son was Percy’s godson and that the vampire carried so much guilt for not verifying that he’d committed the treason of which Sirius had been accused. But they’d thought he’d betrayed James, Sirius own cousin and best friend, as well as Lily, the animagus’ own sister. He couldn’t blame his husband for not being able to face Sirius. Gellert certainly didn’t think he’d have been able to do so.

“We could only work with the information that we had,” Gellert reminded him, coming to perch on the desk next to his husband, “And I told you that Albus would make sure Harry was safe.”

Percy took his husband’s hand, running his thumb across the band that marked them as married, where it was nestled beside his ring that marked his as Lord Graves. The ring that marked his as Lord Potter was on his right hand, only until Harry came of age, “You had no way of knowing… Hell, he didn’t either. I know that, I do, but…”

“I know,” Gellert assured him. He chuckled, “I haven’t seen you that mad since you left me.”

The Director huffed. He had taken Flea to the States and ceased speaking to Gellert, effectively separating them, the day before the blonde’s supposed duel with Albus for the elder wand. His husband had been so heartbroken that he’d gone to prison willingly and stayed there, isolated, for three decades. Percy had only resumed contact with him when James was half-way through Hogwarts.

“I wonder how long he’ll avoid me for this time.”

“He’s not getting that option,” Gellert assured his husband, “Albus has got to get over his tendency to avoid his mates. It is starting to have a bad influence on Harry.”

Percival hummed and got lost in his thoughts for a few minutes. Finally, he told his mate, “I’m retiring from Macusa.”

The previous Dark Lord tried to bat down his excitement but knew that Percy had caught wind of it when the vampired grinned up at him and pulled the blonde into his lap, “Sorry, I know you love your job.”

Shrugging, Percy stole a kiss, “It’s alright. I know you’ve wanted me to come back for a while…”

“Since the moment you left,” His siren clarified instantly.

He smiled, though it quickly turned sad, “I thought Harry didn’t need me. When he started writing us his first Christmas back in the magical world… It seemed like he had his father and Albus at Hogwarts, and he was so happy to visit the Weasleys during that summer, and he mentioned his aunt and uncle… Mary and Morgana, I thought he meant Andy and Ted, but then he started visiting you here. By the time I found out about the basilisk and the chamber…”

Gellert sighed, “I really did think that we had it under control. That Albus knew everything that was happening. He… When Harry showed up here after the Granger girl was petrified, I thought I’d sent him back with the right information and he’d take it straight to Albus. When he wrote me that first letter after his encounter with that first horcrux… He said he was with Fawkes and on the way to Albie’s office. It never occurred to me that he was making each of us think…”

“And he didn’t think Harry knew anything about his family,” Percy admitted, “Then we found out that Sirius was innocent and the tournament happened.”

They could both feel Albus’ presence on the newly awakened bonds. While none of them were sure what it meant for them at the moment, each was happy that they had an instantaneous way to communicate, should they need to get to their grandson. Both jumped slightly when they caught a stray thought from the Headmaster, who was pondering their grandson’s why. What did the teenager have to gain from keeping the lot of them, particularly Percy, from investigating Harry too closely?

Severus watched his son like a hawk as everyone poured back into Hogwarts. He had been in no way surprised to arrive in Albus’ office and to find Minerva there waiting for them, a copy of the Daily Prophet’s special edition held tightly in her hands. He assured her that all of the children and Black were unharmed and about to join them.

There was little left to discuss at the moment, as Albus moved to take the adults, and Capri, to the boundary, so they could get settled at Aberforth’s. He listened as Sirius gave Harry the mirror, a two way communication device that he made the boy swear to use if he so much as stubbed his toe; the mutt swore to make Draco one as well. Sev nodded solemnly at Cissy, swearing to keep a close eye on Draco, as the Slytherin was about to have to separate from his best mates, at least for a while.

Minerva took the four Gryffindors toward their tower, wanting to make sure that they got the chance to collapse, particularly Harry. His son looked ready to drop; between the task, the graveyard, taking Pettigrew to Azkaban, and getting to Nurmengard, not to mention the emotional roller coaster that little excursion surely was for the fourteen year old, Severus was just surprised they didn’t end him up in the hospital wing. 

Diggory did not seem to want to separate from Harry and the other Gryffindors, but he wasn’t quite sure why. He’d spotted Gellert’s comment about the Yule Ball and assumed that getting Harry’s memories using legilimency had told him something the spawned renditions had not. Surely the previous Dark Lord had told his mates; he’d question Albus once they all got a few hours of sleep before breakfast. 

Still, he took the Hufflepuff back to his dormitory, unsurprised to see most, if not all, of the house waiting up to greet their victorious champion, as well as to get his assurance that the other Hogwarts victor was alright. He and Draco were happy to escape the exuberant love fest as quickly as possible. After a quick assurance that his godson was, in fact, relatively unscathed from all that had been revealed, they headed for the dungeons. He took his godson to the Slytherin common room, relieved to see that Blaise Zabini was waiting up for the blonde, and they quickly started for a private spot to share information.

As he was turning to leave, Draco called for him, “Uncle Sev!”

He turned back and raised an eyebrow at his godson.

Draco sighed, “Try being open; he’s been through enough tonight.”

The potions master had absolutely no idea what that meant, but Draco didn’t move to elaborate. In fact, he had no choice but to simply move from the space, when all the blonde did was throw up a silencing barrier around himself and Zabini. Shaking his head the vampire moved toward his apartment, still shaken from seeing his mates in Harry’s memory.

Lily was right, his list of mistakes with Harry was so long at this point. Gods, he’d cut off his empathy completely the night they had died, after agreeing that Harry would be safer with his aunt, and he hadn’t cut it back on until that night in the Great Hall when Harry was sorted. He’d never been the smothering sort, but he’d been so tempted to shove all of his caring down Harry’s throat right then. When Albus had suggested that he not tell Harry the truth, to protect him from his status as a spy… He’d been struggling with balancing his rediscovered emotions and his son ever since.

And his poor Jamie, always trying to defend his stoic and cynic of a vampire mate. He’d still asked Harry to give him another chance, even having to know damn well that Severus had been a complete prick, and in no way deserved his son’s forgiveness. The fact that the previous Potter lord was still trying to defend him from beyond the grave… The potions master wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at that fact. 

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t realize someone was chatting with his mother’s portrait until he was within ten feet of the pair. Stepping a few feet closer, all he could do was blink at his son, looking up the hallway and back to his mate’s mini-me. Finally he demanded, “How in Merlin’s bloody name did you get away from Minerva?”

“Who cares how he did it?” Eileen demanded, “The point is that he did it! And isn’t he adorable?! I can’t believe you’ve never brought him by before, Severus. I mean honestly, I’m only your mother…”

Rolling his eyes, the potions master didn’t bother to make a snide comment back at her, when he saw the silent giggles his son was trying desperately to hide. He could take a lashing from his mother’s portrait if it meant the boy relaxed, even a little, in his presence. After a moment he waved her off and arched an eyebrow at the Gryffindor, still waiting for an answer.

Harry shrugged, trying desperately to wipe the grin from his face, “I didn’t really escape her. I said I needed to talk to you… She seemed relieved actually.”

“She would,” Severus admitted, giving his mother his password and waving his son inside. Minerva had thought he and Albus were the biggest idiots in the world for trying to keep Harry in the dark, their intentions to protect him be damned. He was sure there would be no living with her when she found out what all the teen had found for himself, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said, distracted by the apartment he entered. There were several rows of rare potions ingredients growing on shelves that he instantly recognized. Even more distracting were the moving pictures, many which were of his parents that took over every wall and flat surface. Most shocking were picture of himself as a baby that had him blinking like a fool, he was sure, but he couldn’t keep the surprise from his face.

Severus was grateful for something to fill the moment when his familiar came tearing into the room. She froze when she realized that someone else was with him, all three of her heads perked as the snake gazed steadily at the teenager. Harry’s eyes quickly pulled away from the pictures on the wall and fell to the runespoor, smiling down at the snake automatically. James and Lily had acted like Harry knew who he was, but he still wasn’t sure exactly how long the boy had known, so he quickly made with introductions, “_ This is Medusa. _”

“_ Hello Medusa, I’m Harry.” _

All three of the snakes heads popped up, swaying enthusiastically, “_ Oh the young master! You finally brought him to visit!” _

The snake moved quickly to slither up Harry’s leg and torso. As she moved up his middle, the teen’s shirt lifted, and Severus caught sight of a few of the scars that Harry hadn’t bothered to cover up with glamours now that their existence was known. The Head of Slytherin sunk down at the small dining table in the corner of the room, he mostly used it for grading, and was glad when his son automatically followed him, chatting pleasantly with Medusa.

When they reached a natural stopping point, Severus didn’t waste time, “I’m so sorry. I thought you were raised with Andromeda Tonks and her husband. I never would have allowed you to be left with Petunia, even though I never would have thought her capable of…”

Seeing his sincerity even as he trailed off, Harry confessed, “It wasn’t her. It was her husband, Vernon. She never stopped him, but she was trying to keep what happened to me from happening to herself and her son.”

“I can’t imagine anything Molly Weasley wouldn’t endure to keep her children from doing so,” Severus pointed out, wanting his son to find no excuse for his aunt.

“I wasn’t Petunia’s though.”

“Are you not Molly’s?” His first instinct was to ask if Sirius Black was not Minerva’s, however, it struck him that Harry probably had no idea of the woman’s close relationship with his godfather. Besides, making the point with Harry’s own surrogate family would surely drive the point home.

Point for Snape, was the first thought Harry had. He had to admit the man was right on that front, he’d never insult Mrs. Weasley by suggesting that she didn’t love him as much as her own biological children, “Fair point.”

There were so many questions that Severus wanted to ask but he decided to start with something that he hoped wasn’t heavy handed. James had seemed amused by it when he mentioned it, “Your Dad mentioned your second year…”

Harry couldn’t stop the grin that broke out on his face, “He was talking about when you destroyed Lockheart.”

Severus snorted, “I’d love to say I wasn’t showing off that day, but I try not to lie to myself too often.”

Harry grinned at that admittance, then a thought struck him, “So, that was the year you tried to expel me…”

The potions master flinch a little at the accusation but quickly propped an elbow on the table, running a hand over his goatee, “I never wanted you expelled. I… You’d just flown a tree into the whomping willow. Knowing now about the house elf, and the horcrux, it’s easy to see why you did what you did, but at the time… I just wanted to scare you into never doing something so stupid ever again.”

“Fair enough,” Harry had to admit. Pulling out his wallet, Harry slid the two letter he always kept on his person across the table. He watched carefully as his father’s eyes widened in recognition of the two sets of handwriting that graced each, “They had letters sent to me if anything should happen to them. They found me on the train… You can read them if you want.”

Wide onyx eyes met emerald, but Severus was already shaking his head, passing the letters back to his son, “Those are from your Mum and Dad, they’re not for anyone else’s eyes.”

Accepting that easily enough, Harry put the letters away. Still, he moved to explain, “Dad must have had a vision, because he told me to join the dueling club my second year. He mentioned you were the second greatest duelist of your generation.”

The potions master grinned, “He was the best. We were dueling partners in school. We were always… Competitive. Your mother was a pacifist and hated every minute of it.”

Harry chuckled at that.

He studied his son for a moment, “You knew who I was in the Great Hall the night you were sorted.”

“Yeah...” The Gryffindor had to think of how to explain what had happened, “I felt you, I think my empathy was kicking in. But, then I didn’t. And I saw you see my scar start hurting, but then I wasn’t sure if you knew what was happening or not. Then in class…”

Severus groaned, “I did not handle that with any sort of tact… The night I lost James and Lily, when… Your Grandpa Albus asked me if you would be safer with your Aunt in the muggle world. When the Evans, your grandparents, died, your mother and I talked about sending Andy and you to the muggle world if anything went wrong. Looking back on it, I highly doubt that she had the chance to tell Albus about the plan, or maybe he lost all faith the the Black family when we thought Sirius was guilty, I’m honestly not sure. Either way, he and I were having two different conversations.”

Harry listened as the man continued, “I cut off my empathy. It’s the one branch of magic no vampire can really afford to lose, we present stoically enough when it’s present. I didn’t re-engage with my own emotional presence until that night in the Great Hall. Then I thought I’d overwhelm you, so I shielded. But, I was still a spy and we thought that it would be safer for you to protect you from the family until you were seventeen. It never occurred to either of us that you could already know.”

“Mum wanted to make sure that I knew Albus Dumbledore was my grandfather,” Harry confessed, “She accused he and Aberforth of being ten year olds at heart…”

“She wasn’t wrong,” Severus agreed.

The fourth year grinned, “And she said they’d always been weird about her. She said they were both her parents, along with Grandpa Orion, and not to worry about the biology like they did.”

Severus smiled at that, “She loved your Grandpa Abby and Grandpa Orion, but she was Albus Dumbledore’s mini-me. They were so close and he loves you so much. He’d watch the world burn for you and I know he’s destroyed that any of his decisions have caused you harm.”

Harry huffed, running a hand over Medusa’s scales, “Is he going to be weird now?”

“He’s always been weird, I assure you.”

“You know what I mean.”

Severus sighed, “If he is my recommendation is to go to your Grandpa Abby or the ginger’s mates, now that you’re not avoiding the adults in the family… You’re not going to keep avoiding us, are you?”

“Do I really get a choice in the matter?” Harry asked.

“Not really, but you’ve managed for this long. I doubt we’ve realized the extent of what you’re capable of, even now.”

His eyes rolled, “No, I’m not going to avoid you.”

“Good,” Severus said, then noticed that the boy’s hands were starting to shake, “Are you alright?”

“I think so…” Harry studied his own hands for a moment, “This is new.”

Casting a quick diagnostic spell, Severus quickly went to his personal potions closet as he realized his son’s magic was bottoming out, “Take this, you’ve used too much magic. I’m not even surprised. I was thinking it should have happened earlier.”

Harry downed the potion quickly and watched as his father summoned a House Elf from the kitchen. He smiled when Dobby popped into the space, “Dobby!”

“Harry Potter!” The elf cried, “Dobby was most excited to hear about your victory along side the Diggy boy.”

Dobby got nervous when he realized where they were and who was present. He thought perhaps his theft from the professor’s stores had been discovered. Harry didn’t seem worried, however, so the elf quickly realized that he was not in trouble.

Severus’ eyes rolled at their antics, “I should have known something was awry when you outsmarted Lucius Malfoy at twelve.”

His son looked wildly offended, “I could have outsmarted him at two; he’s a moron.”

“Fair enough,” He allowed with a grin as the teen and elf high fived, “Could you bring Harry something from the kitchen? He’s having a bout of low magic and needs to eat something.”

Dobby popped away and was back almost as quickly with a plate of Harry’s favorites. Severus realized the two must have been closer than he first thought, but was relieved at any rate. It struck him after a moment that the cheerful elf had brought enough for him as well and sat to eavesdrop as Medusa quizzed his son with all sorts of questions about his interests and hobbies. When his grandfather clock struck two in the morning, the potions master knew that his son needed sleep more than they needed to chat.

Harry had to agree, he was about to drop right there on the floor. He wasn’t surprised when his father followed him to Gryffindor tower, making sure that he was actually planning to stay there this time. There was no energy left in his body to pull anymore off tonight, this morning, whatever… He wanted his four poster and pillow.

Severus was not surprised that Harry’s friends, including the youngest Weasleys, Ms. Granger, and Ms. Patil now, were all still waiting up for his return. He left them to gather their reassurances that he was, in fact, in one piece, and took off to find his own solace in slumber. He thought that it had been a good first genuine conversation between himself and his son, and he hoped that Lily wouldn’t be looking to clean his clock the day he passed on, as she was her father.

It took half an hour to assure everyone that he was relatively fine and show them the memory of the graveyard. He finally collapsed in his bed and forced himself to set an alarm for six. There was a necessity that he shower and he needed to tell his grandfather about the horcruxes, before the family thought that he was trying to hide it from them. 

His eyes felt like they had barely touched when that same blasted alarm went off. Caffeine was not going to be enough. Stumbling to his trunk, Harry pulled a pepperup potion from his stash. It wasn’t recommended to use them for lethargy too often, as some became addicted and needed the potion to function normally, but after the night he’d had, he didn’t think anyone would begrudge him one to get through today.

Stumbling into the bathroom he turned on the shower and downed the bright orange potion. He felt more alive as steam poured from his ears and steam filled the bathroom. Moving through his shower, it was tempting to never leave the warm spray. Still, he figured the Headmaster was only going to get more weird if Harry didn’t force a confrontation between them as soon as possible, so he let himself enjoy a twenty minute shower. Then he dressed in five and grabbed his bag. 

As he headed for the door a thought struck him and Harry ran back to his room, throwing his research and plans for his horcrux removal potion into his bag, then was out the door just moments later.

Checking his watch, it was 6:30am by the time he arrived in front of the Golden Griffin door, rolling his eyes at the play on words. He was sure his Grandpa Albus thought it was clever. Sizing up the Griffin he told the creature bluntly, “If he’s up, don’t let him be a prick. It’s important. I don’t want to summon Grandpa Abby, but I will.”

Harry saw the creature smirk and wasn’t concerned if the statue decided to quote him. It took less than two minutes and the Golden Griffin was stepping aside to allow him entrance. Harry took the stairs two at a time, with the diadem and ring held safely in his pocket.

He was barely through the door when Fawkes was on him in an instant. Harry laughed, letting the bird land on his arm, “You just saw me!”

“And yet you’re still up to something this soon.”

Glancing behind the desk, Harry was surprised to see that his grandfather had deaged at some point during the last couple of hours. The man now looked to be in his forties, his legendary scarlet hair once again prominent, and his vibrant colored robes traded in for a cream color three piece suit. His mile long beard was even trimmed back to normal standards. 

The teen’s eyes rolled and he smirked, “At least I’m not the only one with mate weirdness going on.”

Albus tried to stop himself from blushing at the boy’s assessment but failed miserably. He couldn’t deny the accuracy of the statement, “Have you talked to Cedric?”

Harry shrugged, “I told him when we went upstairs. Not since though.”

“Don’t avoid him for long,” Albus recommended, “The longer you avoid it, the worse it gets.”

“Fair enough,” Harry said, hands going into his pockets. He saw when the older man opened his mouth to say more, but then seemed to stop himself, regarding Harry with haunted eyes. The teen sighed, “It wasn’t your fault. What happened with the Dursleys.”

“Yes it was. I’m so sorry,” Albus told him, “I shouldn’t have left you there. And then never checking in…”

“Oh I’m sure Vernon would have loved that,” Harry muttered, “Petunia too… Despite what everyone likes to think, you’re not all knowing. You can’t even see the future; that’s blondie’s schtick.”

Albus snorted, as Harry sunk into the seat across from him, “Your mother used to say that a lot.”

“I know,” Harry told him. When he got a raised eyebrow at the comment, he took out his parents letters, offering them to his grandfather as well.

The Headmaster refused, “No, no, those are for you alone… When did you get them?”

“On the train,” Harry said, quickly putting them away. 

“So you’ve known we were related since you got here?”

“Yep,” Harry told him, “Mom told me; she said you and Grandpa Abby were still ten year olds at heart and if she wasn’t around to tell me, she wanted to make sure you two didn’t dance around it for a lifetime.”

A genuine grin broke out on the fae’s face, “I’m guessing that’s almost a direct quote.”

“You better believe it.”

Albus huffed. His daughter never did tolerate their sibling drama. As someone who wanted a sibling and got stuck with a sister who was jealous of her magic, then only found out about Sirius and Reggie when they were in their teens, Lily thought they were morons for letting their relationship fall apart. Even when she found out about Ariana, she thought that her existence proved that they’d still do anything for each other, and that the just used their lost sister as an excuse to keep being ‘overly dramatic babies’. 

He sat back and took in his grandson. He’d hoped that the boy took after James and was a late bloomer. Albus had wanted to be able to protect Harry until the last part of Lily he had became of age. It was just his luck that the boy took after his mother and was far too advanced for his own good.

“Gellert, Percival, and I started wondering last night just want your goal was. What the purpose was in keeping your Grandpa Percy from coming back to Europe and staying in the muggle world. Especially given how the Dursleys treated you. And now, given how long we know you’ve known about us...” Albus told him what they’d been pondering. 

Harry didn’t offer any verbal explanation at first, he just tossed the destroyed diadem and ring onto the desk between them. He’d known that once the Deathly Trio, as his father called them, got together, he wouldn’t be able to outsmart the family any longer. This just proved to him that he’d been right.

Albus looked at the objects that he’d long suspected to be some of Tom’s horcruxes. He had yet to be able to find either. After the shock wore off, he looked back up at Harry, his eyebrows going up, “Is there anything else we might need to know?”

Fawkes gave a call from where he was still perched on Harry’s shoulder. Albus glared at him, not appreciating the birds insinuation that he needed any extra brain cell his grandson could spare. But, Harry didn’t know that and he wasn’t going to call the bird out at the moment.

“I know where the cup is,” Harry told him, “It’s in the Lestrange vault. We have a plan to break in and get it out.”

Albus chuckled, although part of him wouldn’t put it past the fourteen year old from having tried it and been successful, “I can save you the trouble. Narcissa, Draco’s mother, is the legal owner of the vault since her sister’s imprisonment. She can remove it with no trouble.”

Harry blinked at him for a moment, “Oh… We didn’t know that.”

Albus smiled, but it was sad, “Not all adults are monsters. We really do want to help you, Harry. I promise.”

Nodding, the teen continued, still not quite sure if he believed the other wizard “We know that the locket is in one of the Black properties, but we haven’t been able to find it.”

“What? No, it’s in a cave…”

“Regulus Black got it out,” Harry whispered, “He drank the potion and gave the locket to a house elf, but we haven’t been able to find the right elf.”

The information hurt. Reggie had always been so determined to prove himself. To his father, his big brother, and to their family as a whole; somehow the younger black brother had always felt that he came up short by comparison. Albus knew he’d have to tell Abby and Sirius what happened, but he nodded.

“I’ll ask Sirius to take a look once I tell him and your Grandpa Abby,” Albus sighed, “He’ll know if there were any particular elves that Reggie would have left it with.”

That was easier than Harry expected, but he knew the next part wouldn’t be as easy. He huffed, locking eyes with his grandfather, “I know about the horcrux in me.”

To say Albus’ blood ran told would be an understatement. He hadn’t thought much about his mating bonds since he woke up this morning, all of them having stopped pondering Harry’s motivations the night before. Percival and Gellert had been relatively quiet since he woke up, he wasn’t even sure they were awake, even throughout his and Harry’s discussion. The proverbial aneurysm that both had at the statement made him think about shielding, but it was too late for that.

He sighed, “You were not supposed to have to worry about that until you were seventeen.”

Harry just shrugged, pulling the synopsis of his potion out of the bag and sliding it across the desk, “No reason to beat around the bush about it.”

The Headmaster spent several minutes reading through the potion, trying to make sure he understood the intricacies of the magic in a way that Harry, only being fourteen, might have missed. Unfortunately Gellert Grindelwald as an impatient pain in the arse and he felt the siren pushing right against his mind, trying to get the information at the same time he was. It caused him to get a headache, forcing him to take his glasses, now just for reading once more, off and pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to abate the throbbing in his temples.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, seeing his grandfather flinch.

Just as their grandson asked, Albus felt Percy seize control of Gellert’s mental presence, having realized what the siren was doing. He had to admit, when the vampire wasn’t irate with him, the older wizard was the gentlest and strongest presence that the Headmaster had ever encountered. He couldn’t help but chuckle as the Director dragged their mate away by the mental ear; when he focused on them for just a moment he could hear Percival scolding the previous Dark Lord all the way in Nurmengard.

“I’m fine,” He assured the teenager, “Your Grandpa Gellert just got a little too nosy. Your Grandpa Percy is handling it.”

The young heir laughed, “I’ll bet he is!”

Luckily the break in conversation allowed Albus to catch sight of the time and he only had five minutes to get to breakfast. He grabbed Harry and got them moving toward the Great Hall, keeping the recipe and synopsis to read over later. They were chatting about Harry’s experience in the maze, prior to his run in with Cedric Diggory, when they got the the fork that separated the staff entrance from the main entrance.

“Harry Potter!”

The teenager jumped a little when his name was shouted, he knew better than to anger Hermione Granger. Glancing back he found her being trailed by the band, minus Draco, but once again including Ron, and ...Oh bloody hell, Cedric was with them.

“We wake up and you’re gone! Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

One of the reasons that this hallway was chosen to lead into the staff entrance was that it carried a slight echo. So, Albus was in no way surprised when the noise summoned Minerva from the Head Table. He leaned on the wall, shrugging when she started at his deaged appearance, and stayed quiet as she came to stand next to him.

“Sorry, I got an early start.”

“I was downstairs by 6:30am,” The muggle born told him, “You’re the only one that is excused from exams. Where did you go?”

“Oh I’m sure he was just avoiding his adoring public,” Albus said, not bothering to contain his amusement when the rest of the kids started at recognizing his voice, “The same as Mr. Diggory.”

“Oh please!” Ron said, recovering first, “He was… Actually, why were you camped outside The Fat Lady?”

“Umm…” Cedric stumbled, looking toward Harry for some sort of help, not knowing what to say, “I was…”

“Regardless,” Minerva cut him off, mostly because she saw that Albus was getting entirely too much joy from his hardship, “You’re all here now and need to get to breakfast! Off you go.”

The Gryffindors took off quickly and Harry attempted to turn to follow after his friends. Seeing the disappointment on the sixth year’s face, Albus quickly stepped in, “Oh I’m sure that Harry and Cedric can live without the fanfare after their night…”

Minerva noted the exuberant gratitude that sprung over Cedric’s face and the way Harry spun to glare daggers at his grandfather. If looks could kill, her best friend would have burst into flames like his familiar. Quite frankly, the ginger might have put the bird to shame if fourth year had his way.

“...Why don’t you two have breakfast down in the kitchen? I’ll tell everyone you’ll get your prizes for the tournament at dinner tonight,” Albus finished without missing a beat.

“Oh that sounds amazing! Thank you, Headmaster!” Cedric said, rushing the few steps required to grab Harry’s wrist, dragging him toward the stairs leading to Hufflepuff Basement.

As Harry passed his grandfather he hissed at him in a near whisper, “So much for you assholes not being the enemy!”

“I just don’t want you making the same mistakes I did,” Albus told him, “Deal with it!”

The two disappeared down the stairs and Minnie turned on him, arms crossed, “What in Merlin’s beard just happened?”

“They’re mates,” He whispered to her, ever aware of the echo, moving around her to start toward the Great Hall.

She quickly moved to follow him, eyes wide, as she pointed toward the staircase, “Potter and Diggory?”

He nodded.

The transfiguration professor was shocked, slapping his shoulder as the entered the Great Hall, “How could you not tell me that!”

“I just found out last night!” He defended himself as they sunk into their seats, “Well, technically, Gellert found out and told us.”

Severus was on his other side once more and already looked better now that Karkaroff had taken off in terror. The potions master assured him that the man’s deputy had no affiliations with Voldemort, but still he could not wait for the foreign schools to take off in three days time. Then, they only had a couple more days before all their own students went home as well.

“Found out what?” The Slytherin Head of House demanded.

“Who Harry’s mate is,” Albus told his unofficially adopted son, as Hermione Granger caught his eye, making a grand gesture in inquiry, clearly realizing that she had once again lost Harry, somehow, on the way to the Gryffindor table. Neville was by her side, also looking up in confusion, and he locked eyes with the Longbottom heir, before darting his gaze to the Hufflepuff table and back.

It took a moment, but he saw the realization dawn in Neville’s eyes, a knowing ‘Oh’ clearly escaping the fourth year; that was Albus first confirmation that some of Harry’s friends knew. Hermione clearly didn’t, as she turned on the pureblood, clearly demanding to be let into the loop. He watched with a grin and Neville leaned in and whispered something into her ear. She was clearly shocked, pointing to the Hufflepuff table, as the Longbottom nodded, before she turned to whisper her new information to an inquisitive Ginny Weasley. Well, Harry wouldn’t be able to avoid it now.

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense!” Severus demanded, “I haven’t seen him all morning. I hope he doesn’t sleep through breakfast. He needs to eat after his magic bottomed out last night.”

“When did this happen?” Albus asked, he hadn’t seen any signs that Harry’s magic was in trouble. 

“Your deputy let him sneak down to my apartment last night instead of making him go to bed.”

He raised an eyebrow at Minerva.

She didn’t so much as flinch, “Four years too late if you ask me. I should have put my foot down the night he was sorted.”

Albus rolled his eyes, but he was well aware that when Minerva found out about the Dursleys, she was probably going to end up putting Gellert’s smack to shame. Still, he returned to Severus original inquiry, “Apparently he and Cedric Diggory are meant to be.”

“And he’s been avoiding him, I’m guessing?” Minnie questioned him, “Given you felt the need to step in.”

“I can only imagine where he gets that from,” Severus muttered without missing a beat.

The Headmaster sighed, giving both a dirty look, before settling on Minerva, “Did I not just handle it? If I’m fixing it, I shouldn’t have to be badgered by the two of you.”

“Does that mean you’ve finally had a conversation with Director Graves?” The transfiguration professor demanded.

“Altercation, yes. Conversation, no,” Severus told her, lingering on the last word, “According to Gellert’s memory at least.”

When his best friend looked to him for an explanation he shook his head, “I’ll tell you after breakfast.”

Most exams were finished prior to the third task of the tournament, however a few of the advanced students had a transfiguration exam later that morning. Minerva swore that she would be by as soon as she got her last final exam given. There hadn’t been time to talk about what exactly had happened when Albus took Harry’s friends to Nurmengard, but by bloody Merlin she was going to find out.

Once the woman had taken off to her final, Severus lingered for a few more minutes, as his finals were finished. He had a shift on the grounds soon, keeping the children out of trouble, but not quite yet, “James and Lily sent him letters.”

“I know, he came to my office this morning. He’s been hunting down the horcruxes,” Albus told his quietly, where no one else would hear, “He was planning to break into Gringotts to get one of them.”

Severus just stared at him, having to consciously keep his jaw from dropping, “Excuse me?”

The redhead chuckled, “Tell me about it. To say we’ve been underestimating that kid is… We’re going to have to reconvene the Order.”

“You’re going to have to check in with the mutt,” Severus reminded him, “There’s no way the Ministry isn’t tripping all over themselves to get to him today.”

“I’ll wait until after lunch, since they’ll undoubtedly take a while,” Albus said, “Minerva will want to go. Can you…”

“Keep three hyperactive schools from burning the castle down in your absence?” Severus summed up, “I will give it my best effort.”

“I can’t believe a direct threat from a Dark Lord hasn’t calmed them down more.”

“It’s Harry’s absence,” Severus reminded him, “He said that he’d already ‘warned their champion of his return’ and the sad part of it all is… I think once they see him unharmed from facing Riddle down, they are only going to get more excited. It’s like they all think he’s already defeated him.”

Albus looked over the students as they all went to explore or get into trouble with their free day, students from every school mingling as they fled breakfast, “Hasn’t he? He stopped Tom from being resurrected. He has destroyed three of his horcruxes already and had a plan for the rest of them.”

Fawkes had told him about the boy’s plans the night before. He still wasn’t thrilled that his familiar had known so much but hadn’t sounded an alarm long before now. The phoenix had justified himself, citing that Harry had things far more in hand than Albus had, and nothing had gone wrong with the teenager at the helm. They hadn’t spoken again until he got up this morning.

Albus sighed, moving to the other school Heads, to tell them that prizes were being done that night at dinner.

Harry had little choice as he was dragged down the stairs toward the kitchen. He swore to several deities that he was going to make his grandfather pay for this. Thinking through the list of things he could do to make the man suffer, he decided that somehow siccing his Grandpa Abby on the pushy Headmaster was his best option. What to do to make that happen though?

He was pulled from his musing when Cedric yanked him into the kitchen and immediately turned to face him, “How long were you prepared to avoid me?”

The question caught him off guard, “What?”

“You weren’t going to tell me we were mates until your grandfather called you on it,” Cedric said, “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Yes, of course, I just figured that it would wait until I turned fifteen,” Harry clarified, “Like every other kid with an inheritance. I was going to wait until the bond opened.”

“But you already knew!” Cedric’s voice raised, “When did you find out? Get a vision? What did you even see?”

“Is Harry Potter being accosted by this Prefect?” A voice behind them demanded. Both turned and Harry instantly spotted Dobby, who was glaring at the Hufflepuff in front of him. The Gryffindor quickly realized how this could look after all Cedric was much larger than him and had turned on him as soon as they’d come through the portrait, effectively backing him up against it, “Because Dobby will gladly throw him out of the kitchens if he is making Dobby’s friend uncomfortable.”

Harry smiled at the elf, “No Dobs, it’s okay. This is Cedric, he’s…” He glanced over at the Hufflepuff, making sure that he had permission to use the title. The other boy raised an eyebrow, his face clearly showing that he was impatient to hear Harry say it. Rolling his eyes, Harry continued, “This is my mate, Cedric Diggory. Cedric, this is my friend, Dobby.”

The elf’s demeanor changed instantly, “Oh, Dobby has been granted a nickname! This is very exciting!” He clapped his hands together, “And he is so happy that his friend has found a worthy partner. Should he prove less than worthy, Dobby will gladly make all his socks disappear all his seventh year and make all his favorite foods taste rotten!”

The fourth year snorted before he could stop himself, “I appreciate the offer, Dobby. But that won’t be necessary.”

The elf nodded and moved off into the kitchen, giving Cedric one last withering look.

The Hufflepuff looked back at his mate with a raised brow, “You have friends and family in all sorts of high places, don’t you?”

“Wait until you meet Mrs. Weasley,” Harry offered, “His shovel talk will pale in comparison.”

When the younger teen wandered over to a small open table and sunk down, Cedric dutifully followed. He refused to fill the silence further, waiting for the Boy Who Lived to answer his questions. It was hard to believe that he had wasted so much time with Cho, when his crush since the World Cup was his mate the entire bloody time!

Harry sighed, “I got a vision when we shook hands before the World Cup. It didn’t seem to matter; I had no proof as our bond wasn’t open. There was no reason to tell you and disrupt your life, it’s not like you would have believed me.”

Cedric stared at him, torn between outrage and laughter, “Yeah, who would believe the great grandson of Gellert Grindelwald could be a seer? The sheer audacity!”

It had been a while since someone other than Hermione or Draco made Harry feel condescended to, so he blinked at the larger boy for a moment before he really reacted. After a moment to process what the Hufflepuff had said, he tilted his head, “I didn’t think of it in those terms.”

Sitting back in his chair, Cedric studied his fellow victor for a few minutes, Harry doing the same. He began to digest the information Harry had just given him. It wasn’t so much that Harry hadn’t wanted him to know about their status. He’d legitimately thought that Cedric wouldn’t believe him, even if he did say something, and until he had proof, the Gryffindor didn’t want to face that sort of rejection. After what he had seen the previous night, it wasn’t very surprising that the younger teen felt that way. 

“Hermione mentioned this morning that you were raised in the muggle world,” He pointed out, more than he asked.

“Yes, I was.”

Cedric traced the wood grain of the small circular table that they had claimed, before he looked back into Harry’s emerald eyes, “Are they the ones who hurt you?”

Not liking this vein of conversation but with no where else to go, Harry nodded, “They were.”

“She said that you had to go back there every summer,” Cedric started, but his mate quickly moved to cut him off.

“That won’t be the case now that Sirius is known to be innocent,” Harry assured him, “And even if Pettigrew hadn’t been turned in, my grandparents only discovered the injuries last night. They would never let me go back there either.”

“I’m so sorry that they hurt you,” Cedric said. When Harry waved off the sentiment, he knew that the Gryffindor didn’t want to discuss it further and he didn’t want to push too hard, “Will you tell me what you saw in your vision?”

Harry blushed, but this was still a better topic than their previous, “We were on the platform for the train, sending kids off to school. There wasn’t anything else to it; it was just a flash when our hands touched.”

Cedric grinned at the knowledge of that future. He locked eyes with the younger teen, “I know that many people do scoff at divination, but I love the practice. You can tell me about your visions, I won’t dismiss them.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed.

“Could we at least claim dating status?” Cedric asked him, “Even if you aren’t ready to tell anyone else about us being mates.”

“You’re still dating Cho.”

“No, we broke up after the Yule Ball,” Cedric told him, “I’m single as a snowflake.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard that.”

Cedric shrugged, “It was none of anyone else’s business. I didn’t go screaming it from the rooftops and I don’t know who she’s told. Regardless, we’ve been over for a while.”

“Well, I don’t object to either then. We can do both; tell people about the mates thing and claim dating status,” Harry allowed.

That got a bright smile from the Hufflepuff, who grabbed Harry’s hand, where it rested on the table, “So, what are you doing for the rest of the day.”

“I’ve got to contact my godfather,” Harry confessed, pulling the mirror from his pocket, “I need a good way to get my Grandpa Abby infuriated with his big brother.”

“Why?”

“Because the Headmaster is pushy and needs to be punished.”

Cedric couldn’t help the dry snicker that escaped him at someone talking about the Albus Dumbledore in such a way. He had to admit that was going to take some getting used to. His mate wasn’t just a student to these people, he was their family first.

Harry pulled the mirror out, “Sirius Black…”

It only took a few moments and Sirius face appeared instead of Harry’s reflection, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing!” Harry rushed to assure him, “Is Grandpa Abby there?”

“No, it’s just me and Remus,” Sirius told him, “I can get him from downstairs…”

“No, no!” Harry corrected, “That’s actually perfect, that way his reaction will be genuine. I need to sic him on Grandpa Albus, but I don’t know what to do to make that happen.”

“Old red driving you crazy already?” Sirius asked, as Remus also came into view of the mirror, already laughing.

Harry snorted, “That’s one way to put it.”

The two marauders looked at one another, Remus shrugged, “Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo?”

“We did it at your age and Dad raged for a damn month,” Sirius disclosed, “I remember the hell he gave Uncle Albus.”

Harry’s brows drew together, although the idea was perfect as George had just finished designing his first tattoo, “Why did he get mad at his brother for that?”

“It was a Gryffindor tattoo to match his,” Sirius disclosed, he took his arm out of his sleeve so that Harry could see his shoulder. Remus held the mirror so that Harry could get a good look at the roaring golden lion with a red mane.

“The Headmaster has a tattoo?” Cedric was shocked. 

Harry rolled his eyes at the two marauders’ confusion, unsure who was there. He turned the mirror so they could see the other boy, “Cedric is here too, we’re hiding out in the kitchen.”

“Oh,” Remus said, as Harry came back into view. He and Sirius shared a look, still wondering about Gellert’s comment from the night before, “Hello, Cedric. And don’t let the Merlin look he’s got going on now a days fool you; the man was the leading rebel back in his day.”

“He dropped the Merlin look alike contest,” Harry told them, “He deaged to forty something between last night and this morning.”

“Really?” Sirius chuckled, “Dad will want to know about that.”

Harry heard something happening on the marauders end of the conversation, but couldn’t make out what it was. Whatever it was drew both the older men’s attention and Sirius quickly moved to end the call, “We’ve got Ministry officials inbound; tell your Grandpa to bring you and Draco by later for an update.”

Just then Harry and Cedric heard the pear giggle, “We’ve got company too. Will do.”

Luckily as the portrait swung open it was just the full band, minus only Hermione, being led by the twins with the map. He noted that Draco had brought Blaise Zabini with them and he stood to shake hands with the other boy. He loved his friends, but they weren’t always the most welcoming to new people without good reason. The Boy Who Lived should not have been as surprised as he was when they all surrounded them at the table, Ginny demanding, “You’re mates?!”

“Oh, I’m going to give him hell,” Harry muttered, “But yes, we are.”

Cedric received several shovel talks; he thought the one from the Weasley twins and Harry’s cousins, the Patil twins, were particularly creative. However, by far, the most colorful was from Draco. The Hufflepuff and Blaise settled into the rag tag amalgamation of all the houses quickly, with him now representing his home team, once everyone thought he’d been threatened the appropriate amount. The group settled in the kitchen, happy to avoid the rest of the castle that was on a wizard hunt, everyone wanting to be the first to catch a glimpse of Harry Potter, Triwizard Tournament victor and boy who stopped the Dark Lord from returning. 

George, per usual, had his sketchbook on his person, and Harry settled in with him to make the final changes to his tattoo, prior to them making the brand a reality. He wanted a Deathly Hallows symbols, but he wanted it to be unique, made up of interlocking animals, and accompanied by his favorite quote from his Grandpa Graves. George had already used the Director’s letters to design the quote in the man’s handwriting; it couldn’t get more perfect. The words, ‘The Rules Are The Same, As They Always Were,’ were broken into two lines above the symbol, while the words ‘Presence of Thought,’ ‘&,’ ‘Peace of Mind,’ were broken into three below it.

He needed to do a slight rearrangement of the animals, however, as he now thought that the badger needed more prominence, since Cedric was the heir of Hufflepuff and his mate. He had his animagus form at the top of the triangle and decided to take out any repeat animals. He wasn’t a descendant of Ravenclaw, so the representation of an eagle for Grandpa Grave would have to be enough. He then put the badger and basilisk just below his lion on the triangle. In the bottom corners of the shape, he left the kodiak bear and direwolf respectively. In the middle of the shape’s bottom line, where the line representing the wand would connect, he also left the twins representation of foxes with interlocking tails. Filling in the rest of the triangle, he had a jack russell, otter, white owl, unicorn, acromantula, and hungarian horntail. 

Making up the six notches of the elder wand, he left a stag, doe, grim, werewolf, and weasel. But, instead of a spider for his father, after meeting Medusa, Harry decided to switch the creature out for a runespoor. Plus, he just liked the snake and wanted her as part of his tattoo.

Forming the top half of the stone, George recommended leaving his symbols for his grandparents, in the form of a bald eagle, raven, phoenix, and auguery. Harry knew that his Grandpa Abby’s patronus had become a goat after his Grandpa Orion died, as that was what the man always called him, and what the man tended to give him for Christmas, but whenever they had snuck out to the wizard’s bar, he’d heard that the Dumbledores’ mother used to refer to him as the auguery of their family. 

On the bottom half he changed the Hogwarts house symbols to animals that made him think of his favorite professors. He wound up with a tabby cat, no one had to ask who that represented, a niffler, Harry had to explain that it represented Flitwick’s Goblin ancestry and their love of valuable things, and Fang, because damn it all Hagrid was family. He debated what to make as a tribute to Madam Pomfrey and finally decided to go with a turtle; he didn’t know why, but it just felt right. Luna affirmed his decision, although everyone else was skeptical. Harry thought that might have more to do with the woman constantly giving him a hard time, even when he was hurt, but much like Medusa, he just liked the mediwitch.

“Alright,” He said, once the drawing felt perfect, “Let’s see if we can manage to get back to the dorm to get it done before lunch.”

“Wouldn’t the Room of Requirement be better?” Ginny asked him.

“He’s trying to get caught, Gin,” Fred reminded her, “He needs to go somewhere that either Dumbledore or McGonagall will find him.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“I guess I’ll see you later?” Cedric asked, as everyone else moved toward the door.

“What are you talking about?” Harry demanded, “You’re with us now, Diggory. There’s no escape.”

Cedrid grinned, but still pointed out, “We aren’t supposed to go into other houses common spaces.”

“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again,” George said from his place by the portrait, where he pulled out the invisibility cloak, tossing it back to Harry, “Only prats become prefects.”

“Bless you!” Harry told his big brother, wrapping himself in the cloak, “Come on Cedric, I promise to say we kidnapped you if McGonagall shows up and goes on the warpath.”

As Granger started her third scroll on the exam where two would have been more than enough for perfect marks, Minerva was getting restless. She wanted to know what had happened the night before with her son, grandson, and best friend. The suspense was killing her. 

Lucky enough the girl seemed to be restless herself and stopped at two and a half scrolls. She accepted the exam and watched the girl tear out of the room, undoubtedly going to find Harry and her other friends. Thinking that it was the perfect idea, she put the exams away to grade later, and took off for Albus’ office.

“Sherbert Lemon!” She told the Griffin with some force, taking off up the stairs before the statue was even moved completely out of the way.

Albus glanced up to see the witch was practically vibrating as Minerva appeared in the doorway. He grinned despite the knot in his stomach that foretold of his impending doom at the hands of the woman, “Anxious?”

“Make with the details or die, old man.”

“You’re older than I am nowadays, Minnie.”

“I swear on my son’s life, Albus…”

“Alright, alright!” He chuckled, putting his missive from the Ministry down, “Let’s start with Harry’s experience in the maze and just move forward through time, shall we?”

Minerva watched the spawned memories like her life depended on memorizing every detail. She gasped when James and Lily emerged from the wand and her heartbroke when Harry’s hand passed through his mother’s. It was a scene that was equal parts touching and tragic. Her niece was exactly right that Albus needed a good thrashing for trying to keep Harry ignorant; the boy was his mother’s son! The Headmaster’s intentions to protect him be damned.

When the memory changed to someone gazing at Harry, it took her a moment to realize that the recollection was from the perspective of Gellert Grindelwald. She had never been to Nurmengard, but from the moment Harry arrived, he seemed very familiar with the place and his great grandfather. It shouldn’t be that surprising as the marauders had come in and out of Hogwarts with no problem back in their day too. 

She only looked away when Harry’s shirt fell apart and his torso was on full display. Albus already had his head in his hands, utterly disgusted with himself, but that did not stop her anger. When the memory ended she stood abruptly, even as her best friend moved to match her, “I told you!”

“I know,” Albus admitted, moving around the desk to sit on it, “I should have listened.”

Ironically her slap landed on the cheek opposite where Gellert’s blow had, but she didn’t know that. The witch paced to the fireplace in his office and back, not even noticing when Fawkes gave a warning screech, only to be waived off by Albus, “I told you the sort of Muggles they were! I told you that them being the only ones not from the magical world wasn’t enough! Merlin bloody hell, Albus!”

“I never thought that they would hurt him,” The Headmaster whispered, “Not in a million years.”

“I could strike you dead where you stand!”

“I wouldn’t try to stop you.”

She stopped pacing to stare at him for a few long dark moment, “Does Sirius know? Severus? Remus?”

“Yes, everyone does now… That’s what Severus meant by Graves and I had an altercation.”

When all the witch did was raise and eyebrow, Albus knew exactly what she wanted. He spawned the memory quickly, showing her how the vampire reacted to Gellert’s memory. 

A dark smile took over the professor’s face as even she could tell that Albus had been rightfully terrified to have the Director turn on him in such a manor. It calmed her down, not completely, but enough.

She snorted when Aberforth was the one to put himself between the angry vampire and his big brother. She’d ask him about it Friday once the foreign schools left and all that was left was getting their own students packed for the trip home. Lily had always been right, the idea that the Dumbledore brothers didn’t love one another was utterly absurd.

“What else?”

The Dumbledore lord sighed, showing her the diadem and ring, “He’s been hunting down the horcruxes for years by himself. The cup is in the Lestrange vault; Narcissa is going to get it this morning, before she sends her declaration of divorce. We can’t risk it getting tied up in the proceedings.”

Minerva was shocked, Harry had no business near such dark artifacts. Huffing she accepted that at least now they could get in front of and aid the fourteen year old, “What about the locket?”

It surprised her when tears filled her best friends eyes and she took a step closer to him, “Reggie got it out. It cost his life, but he did. It’s in one of the Black properties. Once Sirius is cleared, he’s going to go looking for it. Apparently he suspects it might be in Grimmauld place.”

That was surprising, as the boys resented Walburga Black, “Why there?”

“Probably for the exact reason you’re surprised,” Albus told her, “They resented their mother, so who would possibly suspect it to be left in the home that Sirius worked his ass off every other week to get them thrown out of as soon as possible?”

“Anything else?”

“Yes,” Albus admitted, “Harry’s an animagus. Don’t ask me what, have him show you.”

The woman wouldn’t lie and say that she wasn’t delighted by that information. Crossing her arms, Minerva told him, “You can’t keep avoiding the family; it’s starting to have a bad influence on him.”

Scratching the back of his neck, Albus nodded, “I know… He came here this morning, that’s why we were coming into breakfast together. We talked. I need to talk to Percival and Gellert… God, I don’t know what to say to them.”

“I’m madly in love with you; I have been since you sent your son to Hogwarts and I helped raise him. Let’s just be together before the world bloody well explodes from the unresolved sexual tension,” Minerva suggested, dropping into a chair, “And let’s have twenty kids to make up for lost time… We have to name at least one after Minerva.”

His eyes rolled, “You’re no help.”

“Anything is better than silence,” Minerva reminded him.

“Thank you, Orion,” Albus muttered, glancing over at his clock, “It’s almost time for lunch.”

“Are they still hiding out in the kitchen?” Minerva asked him.

“No, they left a few hours ago,” Albus admitted, “Pamona caught the whole lot, a mini army of every house, minus Harry, coming out of the kitchen. She said they headed toward Gryffindor tower. I suspect he was using the cloak.”

Minerva chortled, “I told you giving that to him was a bad idea.”

“Somehow, Minne, I don’t think him not having it would have stopped a damn thing.”

“You’re probably right,” She nodded, “I’m going to collect them for lunch. Who all is allowed to go to Hogsmeade?”

Albus thought about it, “Tell them… Ask them, for it to just be Harry and Draco today. Tomorrow is the last Hogsmeade visit before Durmstrang and Beauxbatons leave Friday. If they are hellbent to have their friends meet Harry and Draco’s family, they can do it tomorrow.”

Minerva moved toward Gryffindor tower, while Albus headed toward lunch. Her friend had already been fashionably late to one meal today, so now it seemed that it was her turn. Moving toward the portrait of the Fat Lady they chatted for several minutes, the painting expressing that she’d tried to warn them off though they didn’t listen’. Given that warning, the transfiguration professor wasn’t surprised to enter her house’s common room to find Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Parvati, and the Weasley Twins in attendance, along with Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, Draco and Blaise Zabini from Slytherin, and Padma and Luna from Ravenclaw.

The rest of the tower seemed to be completely deserted, she was sure most of her Gryffindors were enjoying the freedom on such a lovely day. The band of thirteen was a righteous plenty and were scattered in a semi-circular fashion around the room, some chatting, and others working on various projects. There was food on every flat surface, she was sure courtesy of Harry’s house elf friend, Dobby. In the middle of the circle were Harry and George, the older Weasley was working on a tattoo on the younger’s right shoulder; an all too familiar lion, as a matter of fact, and there was already a large bandage on the boy’s back.

If her eyes rolled any harder, they would have fallen out of her skull, “I’m guessing this is a form of punishment?”

While the rest of the group spun to eye her with sheer terror, George didn’t even flinch, much less look up from his task, and Harry only smiled up at her, his grin utterly wicked, “Never let it be said you aren’t the brains of this outfit.”

She pursed her lips as she moved closer, trying her damndest, and failing, to keep a smile from breaking onto her features, “What is this one?”

It was surprising when George, normally the shyer of the twins, glared her hand away from the bandage, “It’s got ten for minutes for the healing ointment to sink it, you’re just going to have to wait.”

Not used to the boy making such a bold stand, she blinked at him for a moment. Realizing he was only being defensive of his friend, Minerva raised her hands in surrender, “Alright.”

Harry snickered, “It’s the only one I’m getting that big, luckily this one isn’t big enough to need a bandage.”

She stood in front of the Potter heir, who was sitting backwards in a chair that was charmed to stay at the perfect angle, her arms crossed, but not actually angry. The other students relaxed as they realized that they were not, in fact, about to meet their doom, “When did he show it to you?”

“It wasn’t Grandpa Albus. I needed a way to punish him and Sirius recommended this,” Harry looked up her, “He showed me his.”

She hummed, “Your father and Remus had matching as well.”

Harry’s eyebrows went up, his godfather hadn’t mentioned that.

“They snuck out of here when they were fourteen and bribed the artist in Diagon Alley, as I was told when they turned,” Minerva confessed, “Your Grandpa Abby was utterly incandescent, to the point that he sent your godfather and his brother a howler every day for a month, before your Grandpa Orion finally got sick of it and put his foot down. He had tattoos as well, you see, and didn’t think that Aberforth could lay all the blame squarely at Albus’ feet.”

All the children laughed at the idea of the legendary Headmaster getting a howler from his brother every day for a month.

She chatted with Harry pleasantly for the next few minutes, until it was time for the bandage to come off. As Harry had pointed out, the lion, now finished, was smaller and perfectly good to go with a quick healing charm. Once George gave the okay, Harry stood up, followed by his artist, and they went up into the boy’s dorm bathroom to take the bandage off. Minerva watched them go, along with the other students, and wasn’t surprised to hear the enthusiastic ‘whoop’ that sounds a few moments later.

George and Harry, still shirtless, reappeared and everyone moved quickly to see the brand emblazoned on his back.

It would be a lie to say that she didn’t tear up a little as she took in the tabby cat that was part of the mighty deathly hallows symbol. She didn’t recognize the handwriting of the quote, but knew who had originally coined the rules posted over the entryway to Macusa’s auror department, so she deduced it was probably also from Graves. Harry’s friends were hyped over the image and internally, so was she, but when the Potter heir slipped on his shirt to go to lunch, all the others already heading for the portrait, he looked at her for approval and she offered a reserved, “It’s very impressive.”

The boy grinned at that and turned to follow his friends.

Walking the small cluster toward lunch, Minerva was glad when Harry stayed close to her, although she knew logically it was probably so that none of the other students that they passed would bother him, the same as walking with Albus this morning. Still, she shared, “On my way to my final transfiguration exam, I stumbled onto Hagrid. He was worried about you when you weren’t at breakfast.”

Harry scratched his head, “Yeah, I was going to go down after lunch, but then Sirius said that he was expecting us to come by…”

“Why don’t you take Draco down after you both get done eating?” She recommended, “He’ll worry himself into the Hospital Wing over you, if you don’t. Your grandfather and I will be there to pick you up, once we transfer the warding to your father.”

“Alright!” Harry agreed easily.

She pointed out, “I hope you know that we can’t take a herd of thirteen into Hogsmeade with just the two of us.”

The Triwizard victor had the decency to blush, “Umm, no, I wasn’t planning on that. The band was planning to meet at the Hogshead tomorrow once everyone is done with their shopping.”

“Good, good,” She said as they came to the entrance, “Off you all trot, grab lunch.”

Albus spotted immediately that his best friend was entirely too happy with herself and the world as she reclaimed her seat next to him. He’d spotted Harry entering the hall with his friends, he and Cedric graciously accepting the round of cheers that erupted for them around the Hall, before joining their separate Houses; there hadn’t been anything obviously afoot. Everything had been normal, even Fleur and Viktor running over from their school’s tables to check on the two, before they could take their seats. The two mates weren’t all over one another, but he thought the fact that Cedric had been with Harry’s band was a good sign.

He looked at the Transfiguration professor for a long moment, “What?”

“Hmm?” She asked him.

He and Severus shared a look, knowing damn well the woman was up to something.

The potions master leaned forward slightly to see the woman better, “Why are you so chipper?”

“Oh nothing, Harry’s just thought up a perfect punishment for Albus,” She told him, “I’m terribly excited.”

The Headmaster groaned, elbows going to the table, hand going up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Is there any chance of me getting caught in the crossfire?” Severus demanded.

“None whatsoever.”

“Suffer in silence,” The Slytherin instructed his surrogate father. 

Albus snorted. He’d known that Harry was going to get him back for what he pulled with Cedric earlier, but he didn’t think the teenager would come up with something this soon. And for the punishment to delight his best friend so much, he knew that it was going to be bad.

“Can you at least tell me when it’s going to happen.”

“No,” She said, “We’re picking Harry and Draco up from Hagrid’s once you transfer the warding to Severus.”

She’d spotted Harry waving to his friend, who was further down the table talking to Pamona. No matter what the Headmaster tried, he obtained not a single shred of information from his best friend during lunch about whatever his grandson was planning. The transfiguration professor confirmed that she still had not seen Harry’s animagus form, however, and made a mental note to ask Harry about it… Perhaps it was a good idea to ask before they left Hagrid’s; surely the boy wouldn’t mind the half giant knowing about his new ability.

Hagrid left the Great Hall as soon as students started to trickle out, since he had the afternoon watch of the grounds. Harry and Draco quickly followed after him. With the two best friends and leaders of the band gone, Cedric and Blaise were both surprised to be included in the group’s activities by Hermione and Neville. Despite not expecting their invitation, both took off with the group to spend the day by the lake, until the two returned from Hogsmeade.

Harry and Draco found the Care of Magical Creatures professor down by his hut, taking care of a baby hippogriff. The young creature, not yet full of the same pride an adult would be, came bounding over to the two boys. Draco was instantly fond of its almost white feathers and played with the little thing, letting Harry rush over to his friend.

“There ya are Harry!” Hagrid said, immediately wrapping the boy in a hug, “You were beginning ta worry me! Thought Dumbledore might just be saying you were alright!”

“Sorry, Hagrid, it was a long night,” He admitted. He glanced over at Draco, knowing his friend was standoffish because of his past behavior around Hagrid, even if the other boy had only done it to keep Lucius Malfoy from making his life completely horrible, “You know Draco!”

“I do,” Hagrid agreed, easily able to spot the changes in the young man now that he wasn’t facing going back to Malfoy Manor this summer. He sat down on the stairs of his hut so that he was a little less intimidating, “I hear you’ve had about as long a night as our Harry here.”

Draco grinned, even if it was a little shy, “That’s one way to put it, Professor.”

“Well, feel free to tag along for tea this week if you like,” Hagrid offered, “It looks like little Blanche would look forward to seeing you too.”

Harry beamed up at his friend. Hagrid studied the Potter heir, after accepting Draco’s gratitude with a quick nod, and after a moment the half giant figured that there was no time like the present, “Ya know Harry, there’s something I’ve been meaning ta tell ya. Think ya could call ol’ Hedwig down?”

“I’ve got something to tell you too!” Harry told the other wizard, giving a long whistle.

They all watched as the Snowy Owl quickly emerged from the owlery, graceful as anything the three of them had ever seen.

“Is it okay if we hang out here until the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall come to get us?” Harry asked the professor. 

Hagrid laughed, “You know you’re always welcome, Harry!”

Harry quickly passed Hedwig to Draco, so that he could pull his shirt up enough to show off his tattoo to the professor. As expected, Hagrid cried upon seeing both Fang and Aragog on his brand, but expressed how beautiful he thought the image was. Once his friend had calmed down, since his grandfather was still nowhere in sight, Harry asked what his friend had wanted to tell him.

The professor sighed, but he knew the longer he let this farce go on, the harder it would be to acknowledge, “Well, ya see Harry, I was worried about ya after getting ya away from the Dursleys that first trip ta the Alley. So, well, I got some help from Newt Scamander and… Take yer Hedwig’s anklet off.”

Harry started at the instruction, “What? No! She doesn’t like people messing with it; she likes it.”

“She’ll let ya take it off,” Hagrid encouraged him, “It’s real important.”

Sighing, Harry moved over to Draco and unclipped the little silver anklet from Hedwig. He was a little surprised when she didn’t try to take his hand off, as she’d done to Hermione once back in their first year. His first gift was more social than most owls, but was also about twenty times as vain, and while the anklet was far from the flashiest owl adornment, Hedwig never liked it messed with.

He jumped back from Draco when a strange white fog began to emerge around the Snowy Owl. Seeing the teenager about to jump for his bird, Hagrid reached out the hold him back, “She’s alright, Harry. She is…”

Harry stared at the fog as it began to dissipate and instead of his own, a snow white phoenix sat on Draco’s arm instead. He barely heard when Hagrid finished, “...just not an owl.”

The phoenix and the human blinked at one another for several moments. When Hedwig thought Harry had time to process her change in appearance, she gave a loud call from Draco’s arm, and flew over to the fourth year, circling him until he stuck out his arm. It took the teenager a moment longer, but finally he reached out for his… phoenix.

“Okay... “ Harry muttered, still sharing as the bird moved up to his shoulder and began to nip at his curly hair, “...Okay.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell ya, Harry. I just didn't want ya ta get into…”

Above them the sky turned black for a moment and a sound like thunder clashing erupted in the sky, but as soon as it happened the day returned to being perfectly pleasant. Luckily the change kept any of the students on the grounds from noticing Iggy’s glorious transformation, as it instead pulled their attention upward. Still, weirder things had happened at Hogwarts, and everyone moved on from the strange occurrence after a few minutes.

“I wonder what the hell that was,” Harry muttered as everyone went back to their previous activities.

“Maybe it has something to do with that,” Draco suggested, pointing behind Hagrid and Harry.

They both turned to see that a teal and black auguery was perched on the window seal of the hut. The creature was staring at Harry and Iggy, as if it were waiting for them to pay attention. When Iggy gave a pleasant call and the other bird came gliding over, Harry had little choice but to extend his arm, allowing the auguery to bound up to his other shoulder as well.

“What in Merlin’s bloody beard was that?” Albus Dumbledore asked as he appeared over the hill that led down the path to Hagrid’s hug, Minerva right beside him. When he caught sight of his grandson he froze.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose before gesturing firmly at the ginger Headmaster, “I swear it’s not my fault.”

Minerva snorted, moving on down the hill, forcing Albus to follow her, “You know, it’s been four years now, and that gets harder to believe every time.”

Harry started to defend himself but Hagrid cut him off.

“Harry didn’t do a thing, Professor,” Hagrid insisted, forgetting that he and Minerva were on equal footing these days in his upset, “The white one there is his Hedwig. I put this charm on her, I got it from Newt, ta conceal what she was. With the family relation comin out didn’t seem ta be a lot of reason to keep hidin her!”

Albus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, the other arm crossed over his chest, “And the auguery?”

Harry felt a little freer to move when both birds took off, flying together. They didn’t go far, circling around the group of humans, but they seemed to be playing with one another. He shrugged, “Hedwig summoned him from somewhere; I couldn’t tell you where though. I took the anklet off when Hagrid told me to and she gave a shriek. Then he was sitting on the window sill after that thunder sounded off.”

Albus felt Gellert send something across their bond and listened a little closer. The seer’s message was brief but clear, ‘They’re mates and his familiars.’ The Headmaster sighed, “According to your Grandpa Gellert, they are your familiars. As well as mates, though I must say that I’ve never heard of traditional phoenixes and irish phoenixes crossbreeding.”

“Fascinatin’” Hagrid muttered, staring after the pair.

“Indeed,” He allowed, “I’ll see if Newt can come to Hogsmeade tomorrow, maybe the two of you can tell us if there is anything else unique about these two.”

Minerva shook her head at the fourth year, “Interesting as this little sensation is, we are going to be late and Abby is expecting us.”

Hagrid got assurances that the boys would be by for tea before they left for the Hogwarts Express and the other adults moved them off toward the main entrance. The two birds were following them from the air and seeing his Transfiguration professor still shaking her head Harry insisted, “It’s really not my fault.”

The woman scoffed demanding, “Then whose fault is it?” and the two bantered all the way to Aberforth’s house.

They were still arguing when Sirius opened the door, the two phoenixes swooping in over his head, and all but scaring the life out of the recently freed wizard, “What in the name of Merlin?”

“Your godson has two phoenixes for familiars,” Minerva informed him, gliding past her son, “But apparently it’s not his fault.”

“It’s not!” Harry insisted, both he and Draco hugging Sirius, before following their professor into the house.

The marauder raised an eyebrow at his uncle, “How the bloody hell did he manage to find a phoenix and an auguery between last night and today?”

Albus snorted offering, “Hagrid. The white one is Hedwig and he’s apparently had her for four years; the other is her mate that she just summoned to Hogwarts not even half an hour ago.”

Sirius sighed, closing the door behind the other wizard, “I survive twelve years in Azkaban without grey hair and he’s trying to do me in all in the span of twenty-four hours.”

The scene they came upon in the living room was a jovial one. Narcissa still had her arms wrapped around Draco and Harry was excitedly bouncing between his Grandpa Graves and Grandpa Gellert, also recently out on probation, provided that he join the team hunting for whatever parts of Voldemort remained in the world. The dark skinned teen was introducing both wizards to his new familiars. 

“What are you going to name him?” Sirius asked, since he knew the boy had just met the bird.

“Umm… I hadn’t really gotten that far,” Harry admitted, looking at the other bird, “Hektor, maybe.”

Sirius nodded, dropping down into a recliner, “To war and to holdfast, to duel and to defend; that’s a cute couple of names.”

The auguery seemed to like it as well, as he took off around the large living area, causing small storm clouds to erupt over the potted plants, showing off his abilities. He seemed to take a liking to Narcissa, landing on her shoulder, when she clapped at his feats. Sirius rolled his eyes, gesturing to get his uncle’s attention, “Is there any way to get that out of here posthaste? It’s bringing down the whole house.”

The Headmaster nodded, realizing that Hufflepuff’s cup was resting on the mantle. He put it in his pocket to dispose of later. That was when a thought struck him, “How did you…”

Harry knew that his grandfather was trying not to sell him out, “The same way the diary went; there are plenty of basilisk fangs just laying around the chamber.”

“Fair enough,” Albus allowed, “Where is my brother?”

“He’s in the kitchen making plans for tomorrow,” Sirius told him. They had a surprise party planned at that Hogshead for Harry and Cedric, now that Grandpa Gellert had let slip that the Hufflepuff was Harry’s mate, “I better go and get him and Remus.”

“Don’t bother, Remus is right here,” The werewolf announced coming in from kitchen and he was not going back in there. A war had broken out between his wife and Aberforth about the design for Harry and Cedric Quidditch themed cake and he was not getting in the middle, “They need a few more minutes.”

Harry jumped up and into Moony’s embrace. With Moody clearly not coming to be a professor next year, Harry sure wished that the marauder would come back, although he doubted the wizard would. The werewolf fawned over him and his new familiars for a few minutes, before McGonagall finally called the room to order.

“One update is glaringly obvious,” She allowed, gesturing to Gellert, “What about everyone and everything else?”

“Fully exonerated with one hell of a compensation account,” Sirius told his adopted mother, the woman instantly coming over to kiss his forehead relieved. Once she’d reclaimed her seat he continued, “They’ve asked me to come back as Head Auror given Moony’s longing to go back into retirement, but that will still be several months out. I want time with Cissy and the kids and need to finish working with a mind healer.”

“I’ve already sent in a letter of resignation to Macusa,” Graves surprised all of them when he took over, except for his husband that is. The man was trying not to look ecstatic and failing, “I’m going to fill the Head Auror position until Sirius is ready to come back. Moody has been through enough this last year and wants back into retirement immediately.”

Albus was surprised, as most thought the Graves lord would never leave Macusa. He jumped a little when Gellert prodded against this mind, wanting his attention. He focused on the other wizard and found him to be extending an invitation to come over to Nurmengard that night. Knowing he couldn’t force Harry into a corner and not face the music himself, the Headmaster accepted.

“My declaration of divorce has been sent to the papers,” Narcissa told her, “Draco’s name has officially been changed to Black and he’s been placed into Sirius’ custody, as well as Harry. Capri is considered illegitimate, since my and Lucius marriage never could have been legal, as I was already pregnant. Sirius has already claimed and adopted her, so Lucius can’t touch her.”

“Thank Merlin for that,” Minerva said, she’d been worried about Narcissa’s daughter. 

Harry opened his mouth to comment but was cut off by a shout from the staircase behind him.

“Kitty!!!”

“Teddy!” He responded, instantly standing to catch his godbrother as Remus’ son bounded into the room. Extending the boy out, he swung him around in circles by their joint hands, putting the squealing toddler down after a minute. The little boy tried to stand then promptly fell back onto his bottom, making all the adults erupt this laughter.

While Teddy had been running to Harry, Capri was running over to her big brother. Both children were fascinated with Harry’s familiars, once the blue haired boy’s world stopped spinning, and babbled at the teenagers. The little girl wanted to show both older boys her new room, Narcissa encouraging her to show them theirs as well, and drug the fourth years upstairs with Teddy’s help.

Once they were beyond the landing, Sirius turned to the only mother he claimed and his uncle, “That boy is a bloody tank. Harry got an inheritance test done the summer before his second year; he’s got five inheritances.”

“My God,” Albus muttered.

“I’d never even heard of three when James got stuck as a vampire, siren, and genie!” Minerva exclaimed.

“Yeah, well, he’s got all three, plus parsel and fae inheritances,” Sirius told them, “He was destined to be as advanced as his mother without even trying.”

“Don’t make him feel abnormal,” Percy instructed his godson, “Jamie struggled enough having three.”

“Boy’s got two familiar’s, Perce,” Gellert pointed out, “At fourteen. He may as well face that exception is the new rule.”

“Not everyone has the same exhibition kink you and the ginger have, sweetie,” The vampire pointed out, “I don’t think he tends toward your brand of grand gestures and one liners.”

Both mates flipped him off simultaneously, Albus largely without even thinking about it, but the oldest wizard in the family just shrugged.

Then there was a scream of pain from upstairs and Draco’s frightened voice crying out, “MUM!”

All of them were up the stairs in an instant, with Cissy and Sirius leading the charge. They found the children in Capri’s room, with Harry kneeling on the floor, cradling an injured hand, and Draco crouching before him, keeping the two toddlers out of the way. Cissy was a mind healer by trade, but she certainly knew enough to recognize the nasty burn on Harry’s hand. Draco pulled back with the little kids so that she could get to his best mate.

“What happened?” Sirius asked, kneeling next to Harry. He was surprised when it was Capri who moved to answer.

“I tried to climb on my toybox to reach the shelf,” The little blonde pointed, “But I slipped and broked the lid. And then Harry tried to fix it but, but, but…”

“My wand backfired,” Harry put in, realizing that the girl was struggling to describe what she’d seen, “Badly.”

Albus picked up the wand that was discarded near the toy chest, “Maybe it was the trac… There are no tracking charms on this wand. Why is that?”

“Oh grow up!” Harry snapped, mostly because he was in pain and short tempered, “The twins had those off our wands within a day of them turning seventeen!”

Percy snorted, having to look anywhere but at the redhead for a moment, though he still shook with laughter. When he looked back at the fae, the Headmaster was giving him a raised eyebrow, with his tongue stuck in his cheek. The vampire couldn’t help but chuckle, “Sorry, it was just the way he said it.”

The fae pursed his lips, trying to fight it, but wound up grinning anyway, “I can only imagine where he gets that sarcastic bite from.”

Then it was Gellert’s turn to snort, while the vampire just shrugged, easily accepting the blame.

Cissy rolled her eyes at the older wizards and moved to start healing her godson. She wasn’t expecting the teen’s new familiar, Hektor, to come charging over shrieking at her and batting his wings in her face until she backed away. She felt someone grab her wrist and was pulled behind Albus Dumbledore.

The wizard raised his hands in surrender, “Okay, okay, you do it then! We’re not touching him.”

By the time the subspecies of traditional phoenix backed away, Hedwig had already flown in and was crying onto the scorched hand. It healed completely after a few tears and Harry flexed his hand, as relief flooded him, “Thanks, Iggy.”

Albus had a eureka moment, “That’s it then.”

Draco looked around the room, “So what happens if no one asks what he’s talking about?”

“Our sister, Ariana, and I tried that once,” Aberforth offered from his place in the doorway with Tonks. They had both come running upstairs from the kitchen when they heard the screaming, “If he hasn’t mellowed with age, he’ll go red as a tomato and keep repeating himself until someone snaps.”

“I despise the day you were born,” Albus reminded his brother. 

Abby waved him off, heading back downstairs, “You’re just mad that the kids have you figured out by fourteen.”

As everyone started back toward the living area, Harry shrugged, “It’s my wand and I want to know, so I’ll break. What the hell was that?”

Albus would never confess that he’d been getting antsy for someone to give him a reason to explain. He’d sooner croak right here then give Abby the satisfaction. Secretly though, it was a relief when Harry asked, “Well, see, I know you’ve been working closely with Fawkes and he adores you, but you aren’t his human. I think, now that you’ve accepted two other phoenixes as your familiars, his tail feather in this wand is rejecting your magic.”

Harry thought about that for a moment, “So… Fawkes’ tail feather just cut me off.”

He rolled his eyes, “That’s a very crude way to put it, but yes.”

“How am I going to do magic?” Harry demanded.

“We’ll go by Ollivander’s when we leave here,” Albus told him, “We’ve got several hours until dinner.”

Minerva’s eyebrows pulled together as she reclaimed her seat, “I hardly see a need to rush. He doesn’t have finals. Certainly Sirius could just take him when he gets off the Hogwarts Express next week.”

Draco groaned, “Do we seriously have to go all the way to London just to come back here? It was a twenty minute walk to get to the house!”

Cissy cut him off, “Yes you do, it’s tradition.”

“And the rules,” Minerva seconded.

The teen’s mother smiled, “Don’t worry, we’ll make a day of it.”

Sirius grumbled, “I suppose that’s a good a day as any to swing by Grimmauld Place.”

Seeing that everything was settled, Aberforth, Tonks, and Cissy went into the kitchen to finish planning. The first two wanted to finish their ...discussion… about the cake. Abby looked at his poor daughter-in-law knowing that she had no clue what she was walking into.

“Regardless,” Albus pulled the conversation back, “He needs to be able to do magic today. Part of the ceremony for the victorious champions is magical.”

Minerva huffed, she’d forgotten about that. She agreed to take Draco back once they were done here, so that Harry could go with Albus to London. The Deputy Headmistress made the older wizard swear to have Harry back in time, so he had time to change and look presentable. Harry objected strongly to both goals.

He and Draco had plopped down on either side of Sirius on a sofa, Remus claiming the chair on the Potter heir’s other side. His godfather waited until his mother and uncle were lost in a discussion about the ceremony, before turning to face Harry, “When are you going to get it?”

“Bold of you to assume I haven’t already gotten them,” Harry informed his godfather. When he got a surprised look he shrugged, “It’s been something on the to do list for a while. Just needed the right time.”

“Well, let’s see them then,” Sirius said with a chuckle.

“Let’s see what the hell you’re talking about,” Percival demanded from his place on the loveseat with Gellert. He hadn’t seen Sirius this chipper all day, since they picked up that fucking cup. The grin that was about to split his seer husband’s face clean apart only made him all the more nervous.

Draco grinned, “I’ll go make sure Grandpa Abby walks in.”

“That’s my boy!” Sirius encouraged.

Both boys stood. Draco was easily dismissed as he wandered into the kitchen for a drink. Harry turned to face Sirius, which consequently put his shoulder with the lion facing his Grandpa Albus, also putting his back at a viewable angle to the Headmaster, and removed his blue t-shirt.

“Oh just kill me now,” Albus exclaimed, “It will be less painful.”

“Then you see why I can’t acquiesce to your request,” Harry pointed out, just as Aberforth followed Draco back into the room.

The younger Dumbledore brother took one look at Harry before spinning on his heels to fix his big brother with a glare. He found the redhead already leaning on the arm of his chair, hand splayed across his forehead, and covering his eyes. 

“I swear it’s not my fault,” Albus offered to the barman.

Abby crossed his arms, “Take your shirt off and say that to me with a straight face.”

Harry was letting his other grandfathers and the marauders check out his back tattoo while enjoying the show.

“He has never even seen mine!” Albus tried to defend himself, “If he got it from anybody, it was one of them!”

“And who did they get it from, Albus?” Aberforth demanded.

The older fae groaned.

“I mean my god, two generations have been sneaking off to get tattoos right under your nose,” Abby accused, following his brother as the older wizard got up and wandered into the kitchen trying to get away from him, “Why don’t you just start a class for it? Let them start getting the blasted things at eleven…”

Aberforth bitched at Albus for the next hour, the two coming and going from the living area, as the Headmaster was unable to escape the onslaught. Harry felt properly vindicated by time that his Grandpa Gellert had enough and cast a silencing charm on the younger Dumbledore. The bar owner stomped at the ground and mouthed all sorts of things at the blonde, but his Grandpa Albus only slumped into the nearest chair muttering, “Thank you.”

Minerva snorted, “Well, if the blonde is going to be a spoil sport, I suppose it’s time for us to go.”

Sirius snorted, “It’s not over yet, make no mistake. I know my old man.”

She nodded, when a thought struck her. She’d forgotten at Hagrid’s after the mess with Harry’s familiars, “Oh, I almost forgot. While we’re here,” The professor turned to Harry, “Let’s see it!”

It took Harry a second longer than it should have to realize what she was talking about. When he did, his grin was wicked, “Don’t you mean them?”

“Go straight to Hel,” Draco told his best friend.

“Alright, but I’m taking you with me.”

Both boys changed into their animagus forms. Minerva gasped at the gigantic direwolf and lion. She carefully reached out to pet both. Seeing her best friend was entirely too delighted with Harry’s form, even if the teen was an ancient breed of lion, the professor’s eyes rolled on their own accord, “Albus Dumbledore, wipe the smug off your face.”

Seeing Abby was about to resort to kicking his husband in the shins, Percival removed the silencing charm, “He’s been like that since last night; I don’t think it comes off!”

Harry was forced to give Teddy a ride around the room, the boy’s enthusiasm rubbing off on Capri, who joined them. Once that was done, the boys headed out with Minerva, chatting excitedly about how they discovered their animagi forms, and Albus lingered behind to tell the family one last thing, “You should all come to the ceremony tonight,” He pushed, “I know most of the Diggory family is coming and it would tickle Harry pink.”

“We’ll be there,” Abby promised, “Try not to drive Harry up the wall with that ex of yours.”

Albus caught up with Minnie and the boys quickly, after giving his brother an eye roll. Gellert on the other hand turned on the younger Dumbledore brother, “What the hell do you mean ex?”

“Oh Albie and Garrick Olivander dated during his… fourth and fifth year I think,” Abby pondered, as if he had no idea what sort of pain he was unleashing on his brother.

Percy’s eyes would have fallen out if he rolled them any harder, as his husband’s mental presence when buggy, “Oh, you’re going to be a real joy the next few hours.”

“Are we even now?” Albus asked Harry as they moved to side apparate to Diagon Alley.

Harry snickered, “Let’s see how long you and Ollivander philosophize at one another before we start talking about exonerations.”

The Headmaster huffed as they popped into London’s most popular magical alley, “I don’t care how mad he is, Abby didn’t have to sic your Grandpa Gellert on me like that.”

They pushed through the crowd, easily lost in the swarm of people during mid-afternoon. Harry couldn’t help but be curious, “When did you and Ollivander date?”

Albus shrugged, “During my fourth and fifth year. But, he found his mate in a muggle born witch when we turned fifteen.”

The fae could feel Gellert’s nosy arse listening in on the conversation and batted him back. He was in no mood for the previous Dark Lord’s jealous tendencies. After all, he wasn’t the one that tried dating again after they’d met and wound up getting expelled for it. He still didn’t know why the blonde felt the need to prove that he could live without his mates. Still, it had probably been a good thing that men marrying was illegal at that time in Europe; they’d been on a crash course of neediness once the siren showed up in Godric’s Hollow. Regardless, Percy had obviously fixed Gellert of the habit when he married the blonde and had Flea, uncaring of the hell it made his career for a few decades there.

Walking into Ollivander’s was a real blast from the past, Harry had to admit. The small narrow entryway leading to one desk with thousands of wands held behind it. Dust everywhere. And just as the door shut behind them, that damn rolling ladder came barreling down.

Garrick Ollivander gazed down at them, grinning like a madman, “Well, aren’t the two of you a sight for sore eyes.”

“Garrick,” Albus couldn’t help but grin back at the man, stepping forward to grasp hands with one of his oldest friends. He blatantly pushed back Gellert’s pouting presence, although he was relieved that Percy was nothing but amused by his husband’s jealousy.

“Oh Merlin, we’re never going to get out of here,” Harry complained.

“Oh don’t be dramatic,” Ollivander instructed him, “I’m sure we can find your adult fit in a jiffy.”

Albus snorted, drawing a raised eyebrow from his friend and a glare from Harry. He just shrugged, “It’s not you, Gar, it’s him. Boy’s got a phoenix and auguery for familiars.”

“Really,” Ollivander pondered Harry for a moment, “Accomplishing great things already, then, Mr. Potter. I suppose it’s only right seeing you take after your grandfather here… But still, that reminds me, how is Fawkes?”

As if his name was enough to summon him, the sky outside flashed dark again, and then all three phoenixes were barrelling into the shop only seconds later. Albus couldn’t help but chuckle, “Ever the exhibitionist, what can I say.”

Although he pet the bright red phoenix, the wandmaker’s gaze was steadily locked on Harry’s familiars, “Ahh, I see now.”

“What’s that?” Albus asked his friend.

“Well you see, I knew I recognized the owl that your friend Rebeus Hagrid gave him outside my shop all those years ago,” Garrick confessed, coming out from behind the desk to pet the female phoenix, “But I never could put my finger on the how! Now, I see why.”

Hedwig hopped over to the wandmaker’s shoulder, Harry instantly recognized that she was familiar with him.

“Come on into the back, boys,” He commanded, “There is only one wand that will do for Mr. Potter these days!”

Albus shrugged at Harry’s inquisitive brow, nodding for the young wizard to follow the man, and trailing only a step behind his grandson. Oblivious to their silent conversation, Garrick kept spinning his tale of history with both Hedwig and Hektor. Harry seemed to be enjoying the story as they walked past the endless rows of wands, however, so he didn’t interrupt the man.

“You see, I was on holiday and came across the most lovely couple. It was a horrible holiday, having to meet my future mother-in-law, let me tell you; love had never been so very tested. My wife and I had a horrible fight right before I discovered them, called off the wedding and everything. One was a traditional phoenix; the female. The other was an auguery. Both offered me one feather for a wand…” The wizard trailed off for a moment, looking through a collection of wands in gold boxes.

“Tell me you two… Have you ever heard of a wand core made with feathers from different phoenixes?”

“What, no, of course not,” Harry started, knowing it an impossibility. Phoenixes were vain assholes and did not share well, ever. Even Newt Scamander regarded them as the most territorial of all birds, “It would be… It would be…”

“Deranged and egotistical in equal measure,” Albus offered, studying his old friend.

The wandmaker in question gave into delighted chuckles, “I’d get offended if you didn’t know me so well.”

“Oh Mary Mother of... you didn’t?”

“Oh, but I did! Well, sort of,” by that time the man had grabbed a box and was leading them back to the small entryway that was well warded against accidental damage, unlike his wand storage, “As the two are mates, it’s not quite as scandalous as it may first appear. Although it did take a few tricks to get just right.”

Harry’s head tilted as he gazed at the box, his grandfather perching beside him on the front desk, “What sort of tricks?”

Garrick grinned at the teenager, taking the lid off the box so that he could see it. 

The wand that lay on golden silk inside was pale white but looked otherwise unimpressive. Harry liked that. It didn’t have knobs or flashy bells and whistles, only a natural handle. The only other sign of design were two indentations, they looked like vines had grown into the wood, which twisted together all the way from the bottom to the top.

Ollivander started giving him the specifications, “Fourteen inches long, the rarest of all wood types, elder wood… Don’t you grimace at me, sir!”

Albus raised his hands in apology from his place next to Harry. Still, the family was never going to let them live this down.

“And a dual core from both a traditional phoenix and an augurey, or Irish phoenix,” Garrick said placing the box on the counter between him and Harry, “To balance the magic I had to soak one feather in basilisk venom and the other in obscurus ectoplasm.”

“Because that sounds perfectly safe,” Albus put forth blanching. He knew Harry was vaccinated against obscuri, he and Lily made sure of that as soon as she had it figured out. There was no danger to the wand, but it still irked him to no end that this was his friend’s big idea. For Harry’s sake he was refusing to root one way or another in the outcome.

“You are ruining the moment, hush,” Garrick instructed him, leaning toward Harry, “But it has one last secret.”

“What’s that?” Harry couldn’t resist asking with a grin.

“In order to seal the pieces together forever, they were encased in acromantula web,” Ollivander told him, “To produce this wand.”

Harry went to pick it up the wand and both men watched expectantly. When he felt the same warm sensation he’d felt four years ago, he knew even before the light show started that this was it. When bright colors began shooting from the wand like unharmful fireworks, he took in all the colors that started to swirl around him Gold, white, silver, and black swirled freely mingling with blues, greens, purples, and reds. Once it all faded away the three of them stared at each other, before Harry broke first, cheering.

Albus chuckled, embracing his grandson, before turning to pay the wandmaker. He and Garrick set up a time for tea the next week; the wandmaker even told him to bring his mates if he was done beating around the bush with the pair. That earned a glare from the fae and a snicker from Harry, before the two set back off for Hogwarts. Albus apparated them directly into his office and it was only a few moments before the phoenixes rejoined them.

“It truly is an exceptional wand,” He was telling his grandson, who had let him examine his new possession more closely, “But exception is not without adversity.”

Harry rolled his eyes to meet the ginger’s, “Are you really going to dampen the moment with your one liners?”

“Quiet, brat,” The Headmaster instructed with a chuckle, finding his own turns of phrase delightful, “Be careful who you tell its contents. It’s something others might seek to take.”

“Duly noted,” Harry could acknowledge that the wand was a little too exceptional. It reminded him too much of the wand he’d read about his Grandpa Gellert conceding to the man in front of him.

Seeing that Harry knew what he was worried about, Albus nodded, passing the boy’s potion synopsis back to him, “It’s going to work. With no more risk than facing down Tom would be… But, that is still a risk.”

“Is there an alternative I’ve missed?”

The Headmaster could only huff, “No, sadly. Not that I’ve been able to figure out either.”

Harry actually seemed content with that answer. All while he wanted to throw himself from the astronomy tower. But, Albus didn’t know where the boy was brewing the potion and wasn’t sure he could stop his grandson, even if he tried.

“I guess I have to go and get ready for this stupid ceremony,” Harry muttered, “Could you look over one other potion for me? I sent it to… my father this morning too.”

“Of course,” Albus kept a grin off his face by sheer force of will at the boy’s stumble, “What is it?”

“A new form of wolfsbane,” Harry told him, “It should only have to be taken twice a year to enable total control throughout the year and, if it’s taken on the summer and winter solstice, it should eliminate all the pain of the transformation.”

He blinked at the boy, processing what he’d just been told, “That’s… Very advanced. What did you mean it should only have to be taken twice a year?”

The fourth year shrugged, “Theoretically, you could take it anytime for a werewolf to be able to keep their faculties. But the pain would only be minimized by taking it on the solstices. It could be taken more than twice a year. For example, Remus could take it now, for the next full moon, to keep his faculties, but he could take it again on the winter solstice, even though that’s less time in between. The only side effect would be a massive headache, if it’s taken more often than the two necessary ingestions, so he’d need to take a pain potion with it.”

Albus hummed, “Send it to me. I’ll look it over.”

“I’ll send Iggy up with it!” Harry bounded out of the office, wishing he had the map or the cloak, but just decided to keep his head down. He dodged the most popular ways to Gryffindor tower and called in a favor from Nearly Headless Nick to make it to the secret portrait unaccosted. The ghost congratulated him on his victory for the mighty House of Gryffindor and let him slip into the common room past the Fat Lady’s portrait.

Ron, Neville, and the twins were waiting for him to get ready.

“The girls are already in a snit getting dressed,” Ron told them, “We better get moving.”

They flew up to the dorms, Neville commenting, “Draco met us by the lake and told everyone about your familiars and the need for a new wand. You just can’t stop yourself, can you?”

Harry held his new wand up with a grin, “Sirius is going to lock me in a padded room if things keep popping off at this rate.”

Ron snickered, “So what did you wind up with this time?”

“One of Iggy’s feathers,” Harry said simply and it was true enough. 

They all rushed to get ready for the ceremony, Harry dreading every minute of it. He wanted to fashion his hair like an old photo he found of his Grandpa Graves. He’d been letting it grow out for a while now and had been dreading Petunia’s awful attempts to cut it when he had to go back to the Dursleys. Fred, the more stylish of the twins, offered to help him get it right.

Once he’d rushed through another shower, Harry pulled out the picture to show the older ginger what he wanted.

He’d found the old picture years ago when he was researching his family and trying to put the pieces together. It was from 1900 and was, apparently, not long after the man had originally become the Director of Security for Macusa. He looked to have been around fifty, with salt and pepper hair, and a full beard. He’d seen other pictures of the man during the First Wizarding War and after; the man had seemed to stay in his forties since getting married. 

Still, Harry loved the way the man’s hair had only bee slicked back on the sides. The legendary Potter curls were notoriously unruly prior to his Grandpa Fleamont’s creation of the Sleekeasy potion, and he was certain that the style was equal parts necessity and stylish. When Fred was certain that it was copied to perfection, he took off to get himself ready.

Once dressed in everything but his outer robes, Harry sent his design for the new wolfsbane potion through Hedwig, before telling her to go enjoy exploring with Hektor. The two were drawing entirely too much attention from the other boys in the dorm. George, caring less about his appearance, was already hanging out downstairs with Ginny when Harry arrived, black outer robe draped over his arm and wand in his other hand.

The twin and his sister wolf whistled, with exclamations that he was going to knock Cedric’s socks off. Harry fought an eye roll but grinned at their antics. He sat down next to George, who was doodling in his sketchbook, “What are you working on?”

“Nothing,” The twin muttered, “That back brand of yours was my masterpiece and now it’s over.”

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle, “Would you like a new project?”

The twin brightened, “What are you thinking now?”

Harry described the wand tattoos he’d read about when doing research for the brands that he wanted; George was very familiar with the concept. He encouraged that it would only take an hour to complete. Harry explained that he wanted it on his forearm below his lion. Then he moved on saying that he wanted some sort of tribute to Iggy and Hektor on his other currently empty arm. Excited, the Weasley set to drawing immediately, expressing that they could make it a full sleeve, with Hedwig on his shoulder and her mate on his forearm.

Looking up, Harry was surprised to see Hermione standing over them, arms already crossed, “Really, more tattoos already? You’re not going to have any skin left.”

“I know, isn’t it exciting?” He asked her.

She sighed and joined him at the small table, “You really had me worried, Harry. I’ve barely seen you since you went into that maze!”

The champion naturally went to run a hand through his hair, but it was just his luck that Fred was coming down the stairs. Once the ginger was assured that he hadn’t managed to destroy all his hard work, the older teen went to sit between his twin and Ginny. Harry turned back to Hermione, who was grinning, and grabbed for her hand, “I’m sorry, Mione. It’s been one hellish twenty four hours. There hasn’t even been time to breathe.”

The witch nodded in understanding, “How did your conversation go with Professor Snape? You didn’t really say last night.”

Harry shrugged, “I’m not sure. I mean… We talked. It went well, I think. There hasn’t exactly been a chance for any follow up.”

“You changed his representation from a spider to a runespoor,” Hermione prompted.

“Yeah, that’s what his familiar is,” Harry grinned, “Her name is Medusa, she’s really nice.”

The other hyper-intelligent teen grinned at him, “Well, that puts his shocked face our second year into a new perspective.”

“Who are you telling?” The teen demanded, then huffed, “We talked about that last night, dueling club.”

“Oh really, what did he say?” When Harry grinned at her question, Hermione returned the excitement happily.

“He admitted to showing off,” The wizard disclosed, “Of course, it didn’t take much. We all wanted to end Lockheart where he stood.”

Hermione giggled, “Fair enough, he was easy to get disenchanted with.”

“Alright people,” Fred told them, “It’s time to get moving!”

The band moved toward the door quickly, Hermione having to practically drag Harry behind her. When they emerged from the common room the members that weren’t Gryffindors were already waiting for them. Draco seized Harry before Cedric could even get to him, although the Hufflepuff made a valiant effort. Once the blonde was convinced that Harry was straightened to perfection, seeing that Harry’s mate wanted a moment with him, Hermione herded everyone down the stairs, leaving the two to follow a little ways behind

“You look very handsome,” Cedric told him.

“So do you,” Harry admitted, suddenly feeling shy. He tried to shake it off, this was a miserable experience and he would find no joy in it whatsoever.

“I told my parents that we were mates,” Cedric confessed, grabbing the other boy’s hand as they descended the stairs, “Is that alright?”

The Gryffindor nodded, “Yes, my family knows too,” He cursed his grandparents for that fact. Loud mouthed geniuses with nothing better to do then meddle in his love life. A curse on both their houses!

“I’m going to go ahead and apologize for anything they might say,” Cedric muttered, “They’re a little too enthusiastic, between me winning and having a mate.”

Harry snickered, but admitted, “I’m too relieved that they weren’t cursing my very existence.”

“Oh,” Cedric drew out the word, “you may wish that they were by the end of this.”

They turned the corner leading into the Great Hall’s entryway. The first thing Harry spotted was McGonagall, her hands going into the air as she looked through the band and realized that he wasn’t there. A giggle escaped him before he could stop it, drawing the witch’s attention. Her hand went to her heart in relief, as if she’d been having a heart attack, as she rushed over to them.

“Oh good, there you are,” She muttered, dusting Harry off, “Potter, Diggory, you’re going to wait here for the Headmaster to bring you inside for your prizes.”

“Can I abstain and Cedric can have it all?” Harry asked, although she was already moving down the staff hallway. Regardless, he was distracted by the fact that it wasn’t just Cedric’s family in the entryway. His family was there too! Sirius, Remus, both of their mates, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and all three of his grandparents were intermingled with Cedric’s family, chatting pleasantly. The Lupins were on one side of Sirius and Narcissa, while Molly and Arthur were on the other.

“No, you cannot!” Minerva called back.

Harry rolled his eyes as he noted that all three of his grandparents were chatting with Cedric’s father, Amos Diggory, and a witch that Harry assumed was his mate’s mother, Ceridwen Diggory. His Grandpa Graves was leading the trio, with Grandpa Gellert at one shoulder and Aberforth Dumbledore at the other. That was to be expected, Grandpa Abby and Grandpa Gellert were never going to be friends, Harry had to admit, but they were definitely family and both were well aware of that. For once in the siren’s life, the previous Dark Lord looked like he was trying to let the shadows of the entryway swallow him whole to stay out of the limelight; like that was ever going to happen.

Sirius and Remus, as well as their mates, were surrounded by a group that looked a bit younger than Amos, Harry assumed these were Cedric’s aunts and uncles. The Hufflepuff had mentioned in the kitchens that morning that all of his grandparents were lost to Dragon Pox, like his Grandpa Flea, so Harry wasn’t sure who the older woman between his Grandpa Gellert and Lady Diggory was, but he was sure there would be introductions later. Their presence was announced by the two toddlers clinging to Sirius and Remus’ legs respectively, who noticed their presence first.

Teddy ran for Harry, shouting his nickname of Kitty, and Capricornia, Draco’s little sister, was quick to follow. They had clearly become fast friends as both demanded that he pick them up. Once he had done so, the kids offering their garbled form of congratulations as best they were able, the two families separated briefly to have a moment semi-privately with their victorious champions. 

Sirius reached for Harry as soon as he was within arm's reach, straightening him out, once Tonks and Narcissa took the kids back. Harry tolerated it for a couple of minutes, then he’d had enough, “Alright, either you paw at me or Draco does, and the blond already assaulted me before we got down here.”

Remus snickered and pulled his best friend away from the teenager, while Narcissa giggled. 

The blonde woman smiled at him, “You already look perfect anyway, sweetie.”

“Yes you do!” Molly exclaimed, pulling him into a hug, and already crying.

“Thank you, Aunt Cissy, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry said pointedly, directing it toward his godfather, who only rolled his eyes, but the fourth year still grinned at the blonde woman when her face broke into utter delight.

“Congratulations, Harry!” Mr. Weasley told him, pulling him into a quick hug.

“Thank you, sir!”

Grandpa Percy stepped up popping Harry under the chin, smiling, “You look very handsome, kiddo.”

“You would know,” Gellert muttered, “We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t end up pregnant by the end of the night.”

The champion blushed at his grandfather’s assessment. When he glanced over at Cedric and saw the boy red as a howler, Harry was sure that the other teen was facing much the same from his own family. He just shook his head at the blonde terror, as Grandpa Abby called the previous Dark Lord.

“I have something for you,” Percy told him. He pulled a smaller version of his Potter lordship ring, which was made of black tungsten, forged in the shape of a skull with emeralds inlaid all over it, and a deathly hallows symbol at the top of the skull as an adornment. Harry’s was a little smaller than his and had a rose, rather than the symbol, at the top of the skull. He slipped it onto the teen’s right hand ring finger, “This marks you as heir to the Potter lordship once you come of age.”

They embraced for a long moment, Harry refusing to let himself cry. They had talked about the Potter lordship only when his grandfather let him work on the Potter family ledgers when he got bored with arithmancy. The man had promised to give him the ring when he came back to Europe and it was hard to believe that day was here.

Percival stepped away and Aberforth stepped up, “This is from myself and your Grandpa Albus, but he’s running things inside and we didn’t want to wait. This marks you as heir to his Dumbledore lordship,” The man placed a silver phoenix inlaid with diamonds on his right hand’s middle finger. They too embraced and Harry couldn’t keep from misting up. He didn’t feel like as much of a baby when he saw that the older wizard was crying too.

Finally, his Grandpa Gellert stepped up with the older woman Harry hadn’t recognized earlier. It hit him suddenly who the woman must be, having only heard the blonde make general references to her in passing. The siren grinned at his grandson, “Harry, this is my Aunt Bathilda.”

The woman was blubbering and pulling him into a hug before he could even get out a full greeting. Harry smiled and hugged her back though, he’d always been excited to meet his great grandfather’s great aunt. When Bathilda finally released him, his siren grandfather pulled out yet another ring, this one silver and with a large shiny white stone taking up the majority, placing it on his right pointer finger. Harry noted that this was an odd choice, as he thought people with more than two lordships wore one on their left middle finger, but he didn’t get the chance to ask, “This is naming you heir to the Grindelwald lordship.”

Right as the previous Dark Lord finished speaking, the wizard’s scarlet haired mate emerged from the staff entrance, “Alright, everyone, time to take your seats!”

Everyone got last minute hugs, before the Headmaster began leading the families in. Cedric’s mother ran over quickly, grabbing Harry into a tight embrace, “Welcome to the family, sweetheart!”

She gave him a big kiss on the cheek before resuming her place next to her husband.

Cedric came over rolling his eyes, holding up a doused tissue, “My father thought that might happen. Her lipstick doesn’t come off with anything else.” He grumbled as he wiped the bright red stain from his mate’s cheek, “This or a miracle, anyway.”

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle. Cedric’s mother already reminded him of Mrs. Weasley.

When his mate finished, Harry was surprised to step away from him and see his father leaning on the wall just a few feet away. He raised an eyebrow at the potions master. Cedric was quick to move a bit away when he saw what the usually cynical professor had. Severus grabbed Harry’s left hand and put a pale gold ring with a large ruby in the center on it, which was surrounded by smaller rubies, on the middle finger of his left hand, “This marks you as heir to the Prince lordship, my mother’s family, in both the Wizarding and Vampire worlds.”

The fourteen year old was fine until his father pulled him into a hug, then a few tears escaped no matter how he fought them. Severus rubbed his back for the moment it took for Harry to get himself back under control, before turning to go back to the Head Table. As he turned, the vampire caught Cedric’s eye and sent him a withering look that was all the shovel talk the Hufflepuff would ever need.

Once the man was out of earshot, Cedric returned to his mate’s side, “And I thought the Dark Lord was going to be the scary one.”

Harry snorted, “Everyone always thinks that. I think the others like the misconception; it gives them the element of surprise.”

Cedric leaned on one of the columns as they waited for the Headmaster to return for them, “Still wish you weren’t part of the competition?”

“In every way, shape, and form,” Harry insisted, his terrible attitude about this ceremony would not be moved.

“Denial, you know, is not just a river in Egypt,” The Hufflepuff prefect reminded him, pushing himself off of his perch.

“So I’ve been told,” Harry informed him, very aware that their faces were now only an inch apart, “Mostly by Draco.”

Cedric hummed moving closer.

“Are you boys ready?” Albus asked coming around the corner. He knew his timing was bad when the two jumped away from one another, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No!” They chorused, lying through their teeth.

“Uh huh,” Albus allowed, grabbing Harry’s hand and giving him a small smile. His own lordship ring, only different because his silver phoenix held gems of every color under the sun, swiping over Harry’s new adornments, “It’s time to go then.”

The ceremony was longer than Harry wanted and he hated every moment of it. He was pissy and irritated with having to endure the entire procedure. He would not admit to anything different. Not even entering the room to see his family sitting enthusiastically next to Cedric’s, or the fact that Hagrid was already balling, and even McGonagall was having to wipe away a stray tear, would change his mind. 

Nothing could have possibly made the entire endeavor more bearable, he was convinced of it. Not his friends from every house cheering both of them on. Nor the other school’s champions being equally ecstatic for the new friends that they’d made. Even Dobby sneaking out of the kitchen to see his friend named victorious could not convince Harry that this was necessary. He just went through the magical motions with his new wand next to Cedric in order to get the ceremony over as quickly as possible.

That is to say until he thought the charade was over and they’d been dismissed back to the tables housing their families. Right when he thought they were going to make their escape, Cedric spun him in close, dipped him, and snogged him in front of all three schools. 

Somewhere beyond the kiss, Harry could distinctly hear their families going ham with delight, his friends from each house cheering for them, as well as Fleur and Viktor, it sounded like, but nothing compared to the uproar that came from the entire Hufflepuff table. After just a moment of hesitation, the rest of the Great Hall joined in. By the time Cedric put him back on his feet, all Harry could do was grin at the larger boy.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“Not really, no.”


End file.
